


In This Life

by aestaethix



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, F/M, M/M, Modern Era, Swearing, lowercase intended
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:29:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 28,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24840826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aestaethix/pseuds/aestaethix
Summary: Two people who start falling for each other despite the secrets they hold in a world that seems peaceful enough.
Relationships: Annie Leonhart/Eren Yeager, Hange Zoë/Erwin Smith, Marco Bott/Jean Kirstein, Mikasa Ackerman & Levi, Mikasa Ackerman/Levi, Sasha Blouse/Connie Springer
Comments: 7
Kudos: 44





	1. a new year

eren switches the engine off as mikasa steps out of the car. the both of them began making their way across the school carpark towards the big double doors of the school.

it was junior year for the them and they were three-quarters done with high school life.

"ugh can't believe i dropped to a lower class," eren groans, "mikasa you have to tutor me, otherwise i'm not going to graduate from this shithole."

mikasa breathes a laugh at her childhood friend's complaint.

"maybe if you start paying more attention in class rather than just thinking about your soccer team all the time..." she trails off.

"it was an important season! coach keith was putting all the pressure on me and the rest of the guys were being absolute bas—"

"first day of the school year and you're already cussing, eren?" armin slings his arm around the said boy, chuckling.

the trio made their way down the hall towards their respective locker zones.

"i'll see you in class for math, armin, and i'll see you for lunch, eren." mikasa bids, turning left down the hallway to head for her new locker.

the two boys headed right, eren still complaining about how the soccer team was the cause of his bad grades.

"the worst part is, coach keith says if i can't pull my grades up this semester, he's going to withdraw my title as captain!"

"stop whining like a lil bitch, eren, you're the only one with the low grades so it's your own problem. suck it up, the rest of the team are doing fine." jean says, provoking the dark haired boy.

"you—"

"it's okay, eren, we'll tutor you, your grades will go up in no time." armin promises, steering eren away from jean and trying to avoid a fist fight on the first day.

the two stopped at their new lockers for the year and began unloading books from their bags.

"shit, whoever used this locker before me drew fucking graffitis all over the back."

armin laughs at his friend, the year was not off to a good start for eren jaeger.

armin pulls open his new locker door and was pretty pleased to see that the interior was clean and dust free, shelving intact and there was even a small mirror stuck to the inside of the door.

"jesus, even the number dial is—okay i'm not even going to be surprised if a bird shits on me today, my luck has been fucked up today and it hasn't even started."

eren slams the door shut, and gives up on operating his locker.

"i hope whichever senior used that locker last trips and falls on his face today."

armin couldn't help but laugh.

"i'll see you at lunch, eren." he says, walking up the stairs to get to the classroom.

armin enters class to see mikasa sitting at the desk nearest to the window, towards the back row. the tables were all individually lined, a total of 25 desks packed into the classroom.

they were in class 1, the smartest of the batch, they had been in the first class since freshman year and eren had stuck with them thanks to all the tutoring from armin. but with his appointment to soccer captain he began to lose focus in class and his grades dropped, earning him a spot in class 2 this year.

armin takes the desk in front of mikasa as the rest of their classmates started filing in. mikasa takes no interest in them while armin makes mental notes of the ones who were able to climb up to class 1, well, he didn't want his spot as first place in their year to be lost.

marco and connie enter the class just as the bell rang, and they took the few seats left near the back of the room.

the teacher, ms louise, enters the class with a male following behind her.

"good morning, everyone, welcome to a new school year. i will be taking you guys for math this year. we also have a new transfer today, why don't you introduce yourself?"

the boy had short, raven black hair, and although he had a small build, anyone could tell that he was fit. you could see the pop of his veins on his forearms, which show the high muscle mass he has, and the outline of his toned chest could be seen through the white short sleeved shirt that was the school uniform. armin heard a few girls squeak somewhere in the room.

"levi ackerman. i transferred from eldian high. a pleasure to meet everyone." his voice was stern and sounded almost bored.

"thank you, levi. please take a seat."

levi walks past armin and mikasa and plopped down at the last row, behind mikasa's seat. 

"hey, i'm connie." the boy introduced himself quietly, holding out a hand for levi to shake.

levi extends his own hand towards him and they do the 'bro-handshake'.

"something tells me you're going to be a cool guy to be around."

levi simply ignores the other and turns his attention to ms louise, who was revising the quadratic formulae with the class.

;

the bell for second lunch period sounded through the campus. almost as if on cue, hungry students spilled out of their classrooms for lunch.

"i'll never get used to having to go at second lunch period. i wish we still had the first lunch." sasha complains to connie as they met up along the hallways.

connie chuckles, "did you try to leave the classroom when the bell for first lunch rang?"

"i did...and the whole class laughed at me because mr sonny made fun of me for still having 'sophomore mindset'." sasha whines.

noise echoed through the hallways as the juniors and seniors filed into the cafeteria.

"mikasa! armin!" eren shouts to grab their attention.

"hey, how was first half?" armin asks as they joined eren in line, picking up a tray each.

"ugh horrible, what even is the fleming left hand rule...wait or was it the right hand rule..."

"it's both." mikasa answers simply, picking up a chicken salad bowl.

eren jaw drops in disbelief, "no way..."

"yes, eren, the principle behind that is the—" armin's explanation was cut off by eren's remark: "they don't have any beef casserole?!"

armin laughs again at eren's antics, he picks up a bowl of soup and their cafeteria's signature monday mushroom burger.

the trio turns around after they've got their food and scanned the room for empty seats. there was an unspoken tradition that whichever seat you take on the first day becomes your automatically designated seat for the rest of the year, so they purposely avoided looking at tables near the dumpsters.

"the only available table i can spot is that big one right there." armin gestures with his chin.

mikasa and eren follow the direction of his jutted chin and see the table armin mentioned. it was the long table that could sit ten people.

just as they set down their meal trays, jean and the rest approached the table.

"we'd like to avoid the dumpsters as much as you guys do, so i guess we're sharing this year." jean says with a sarcastic smile thrown in eren's direction.

he sets his tray down beside mikasa and took a seat. connie, sasha, and marco joined them and sat down as well. there was an initial awkward silence as they dug into their food.

"anyways, we had a transfer today," connie starts, trying to make conversation, "he seemed cool, name's levi ackerman."

"as in mikasa ackerman, ackerman?" sasha gapes.

"yeah i think so."

"damn do you have a brother, mikasa?" jean asks, obviously trying to talk to the girl.

"no," she deadpans, "we had a transfer?" she directs the question to armin.

armin only smiles, "yes, we did."

"we had a transfer too," eren says, "what was her name again?"

"annie leonhart." a voice sounded from behind eren.

mikasa looks up to see a blonde girl, her hair in a small messy bun with her fringe falling in front of her face. she had bright blue eyes and a face set like stone. her voice was strong and yet laced with a bit of embarrassment.

"sorry, it's just, the rest of the seats are taken, and your table is still kinda empty, is it okay if i sit? you're in my class right?" she says to eren.

armin throws a look around the cafeteria and notices that even the dumpster tables are filled up, truly, the only few seats left were at their table.

"sure." eren says, swallowing a bite of food.

armin noticed that the transfer from earlier, levi, had just picked up his food and was turning around to find a seat. he also noticed a senior who was using his phone while walking, tripping and falling flat on his face, and armin thought back to eren's comment this morning near the lockers and snickers.

"levi!" connie yells, gaining the attention of not only the raven haired but of the other students sitting nearby as well.

the male turned and began walking towards them.

"you can sit with us!" connie says excitedly, patting the seat next to him.

levi merely nods and sits down, digging into his food quietly.

armin thought he felt uncomfortable and tried to make conversation.

"so, levi and annie, what made you guys transfer to paradis high?"

the rest of the group turned their attention to the two.

"well, my parents moved for business and they wanted me to come along, so i guess here i am." annie states simply.

"i—" levi stops, "no particular reason." he shrugs.

"anyway, you're here now. you should try the different cafeteria specials, today is mushroom burger monday, i can't wait for tomorrow's tuesday turkey sandwich." armin says, almost drooling.

"oh but nothing can beat the beef casserole they serve on special occasions it's literally the best." eren counters.

"you guys, don't even get me started on the clam chowder that they have every friday morning before first period...it's the only reason i come to school early on fridays." sasha gushes, a blush rising to her cheeks as she thought about the most heavenly dish she's ever tasted.

"but you're still always late for friday's first class!" jean exclaims.

the table erupted in laughter as they went on about the things they could do in the city on weekends, promising to bring the two newbies around the area.

"levi looks like he'd be good at soccer, doesn't he eren?" jean starts.

"he does, how much did you train to get this toned?" eren agrees, shamelessly eyeing levi's muscles.

"tch, it's nothing much. i can give you my training regimen if you'd like..." levi brushes off the compliments quietly.

"awesome! and i'll ask coach keith about you joining the team as well." eren says.

their aimless chatter took up the rest of lunch period and by the time the bell went off for lessons to start again, they had all exchanged numbers and created a group chat to make plans for the weekend.


	2. a groupchat

**[eren's minions]**

**jeanny boy**

okay wtf is this group chat name

i thought it was pretty fitting seeing how almost everyone here is on the soccer team

bc i'm your captain

get it?

_**jeanny boy changed the group chat name to** _ **[soccer kings]**

ew don't be cringey

and what about mikasa and annie and sasha

_**connie boy changed the group chat name to** _ **[koOl kiDs at da kLub]**

**jeanny boy**

uhm....

**armin**

okay how about let's decide where we're going and the timing first?

**marco boy**

yeah, i was thinking arcade and bowling then that awesome pizza place?

**jeanny boy**

marco comes up with the best plans

**sasha**

you would know ;)

**mikasa**

i've got shift at 7 so i won't join you guys for dinner but i'm up for arcade

**jeanny boy**

aw man :(

so let's meet at 3? at the plaza?

_**armin changed the group chat name to** _ **[saturday, 3pm at the plaza]**

nice one armin

**levi ackerman**

sure

**annie leonhart**

alright

by the way is it just me or does mr hannes reek of alcohol???

**jeanny boy**

are you just NOW noticing his alcoholic tendencies

he's been like this since freshman year

**connie boy**

i still love the way he teaches history thou

"wAs iT 1867 oR waS it 1938 thAT tHEy hAD thE gReaT dEprESsion?"

but it was neither

**annie leonhart**

how does he never get caught

**marco boy**

oh he has

he just doesn't care

the old man doN'T GIVE A FUCK

**marco boy**

eren your language!

**mikasa**

miss nanaba is boring me to death

shows just how bad it is for a woman her age to not be married

**connie boy**

uhm rUde???

miss nanaba is the best

she gives us candy!!

to help us stay awake!!

because she knows how tough sTUdeNt liFE can be!!!!

**mikasa**

no

because she knows she's boring as heck

**marco boy**

mikasa!

**mikasa**

i said heck

not fuck

**marco boy**

why do i even try

**sasha**

what kind of candy does she give though

**connie boy**

the salted lemon ones

**sasha**

oOf i want some!

**mikasa**

transfer to first class in senior year then

go OFF mikasa

**levi ackerman**

do you guys not listen in class at all?

sorry dad

—


	3. a night out

friday.

armin hummed to himself while heading to the cafeteria for lunch. he could barely contain his excitement for the friday fish and chips.

he picked up his food along with a drink and tomato salad before joining the rest of the gang at the table.

"you guys are missing out on the daily specials," he remarks after seeing that no one else had picked what he had.

"you're the only person i know who goes crazy over the cafeteria specials." eren says with a roll of his eyes.

"because it's _good_."

the rest of them chuckle.

mikasa approaches with her meal tray, on it a simple sandwich and iced coffee. she sits across from levi, next to eren.

"i won't be able to hang out after school today, sorry guys, i have to cover someone's shift." she states, beginning to munch on her food.

"ah!" eren exclaims as he accidentally spills his soda across the table, some of it dripping onto his pants. mikasa immediately pulls him out of his seat to avoid the spillage and passes some napkins to him.

"oh damn, it's alright then, we'll see you tomorrow." marco says, thinking about how much of a hard worker mikasa is to be able to juggle school, work, and babysitting eren so well.

"do you need me to pick you up from work?" eren offers.

"it's okay, i can catch the last bus." she denies.

aimless chatter fill up their table once again as they decide what game to play later on at connie's place.

the gang has been going to connie's to hang out and play video games since the first day of school. they had bonded surprisingly well given that jean and eren get into fights occasionally.

"i won't be able to join you guys either," levi starts.

the chatter dies down as he speaks, it always does, there was just something about levi that makes people listen to him. as if he was a soldier in his past life, and held a rank that required respect.

"i have an appointment with a...", he trails off for awhile, "friend...and he's meeting me after coming from my hometown so we have lots to catch up on."

"oh, okay. does he want to join us tomorrow for our outing in the city?" connie offers.

"oh no it's fine, he will be leaving tomorrow morning."

the rest of them nod before resuming the discussion on whether jean can do a handstand and make a goal at practice next week.

"reiner did it at practice yesterday! you have to beat him!" eren exclaims while laughing.

"but i—" jean starts, but is cut off by everyone teasing and calling him a coward.

levi turns away from the commotion and his eyes land on mikasa's hands holding her sandwich. mikasa herself was smiling fondly at the ruckus of the group.

the longer he looked, the more levi made out the few scars on her knuckles. as she moved her hands to finish her sandwich, levi's eyes followed and he caught glimpse of a big scar going from under her thumb to halfway across her palm. it was mostly faded so he guessed that it was quite old.

he looked up at the girl only to see that she was staring right at him with expressionless eyes.

he adverted his gaze back to his spaghetti and cleared his throat.

when he looked up again, mikasa had returned to smiling at eren's stupidity.

;

after the last bell rang, students poured out of their classrooms, eager to go home. the hallways filled with chatter on what their weekend plans were.

mikasa bid the rest goodbye and went in the direction of the bus stand. levi also said his goodbyes and was now putting on his helmet. the rest of them filed into eren's and connie's cars and started for connie's house.

levi watched them turn out into the main road before getting on his bike and kicking the engine to life.

he noticed a few girls squealing in his direction, but paid no attention to them and left campus grounds to go home and change.

as he stopped at a red light, he spotted mikasa getting on a bus that just arrived. a glance at the number and his knowledge about the bus routes here caused him to furrow his brows. her workplace was out of town? eren had mentioned before that he and mikasa live a few blocks apart, and eren stayed near the heart of the town so why was mikasa getting on a bus that led out of town?

he decides that he could ask her in person tomorrow or even text her later if he was really curious. but for now, he had to concentrate on his meeting with an old "friend".

;

"how was school?"

"fantastic," levi curtly replies, "you know, you don't have to ask me about school every time i come home."

"you're just running out of adjectives to describe your day," erwin quips back.

"i'll give you some, 'enchanting', 'surreal', 'superb'," he continues, "what else can you use to describe school...what about—"

"enough." levi cuts him off.

erwin chuckles, finding joy in teasing his friend.

"by the way, i'll be meeting kenny tonight, is there anything i need to know?"

erwin's expression became a serious one as he stands up and heads to a shelf to retrieve a file.

the tosses it in levi's general direction, no doubt that the short man could catch it.

"he's been on the move, his men have started to take over this city's underground network and he will soon have full control. we have to dismantle it asap."

erwin smith was an inspector in the national police department. levi ackerman was acting as his assistant. the big boss had already promised levi a promotion after graduation and a spot in the detectives' office. the reason why levi moved in here with erwin was so he could best assist his superior in taking down a criminal mastermind.

kenny was well known in the underground world for being a trafficker. human, drugs, organs, you name it and he probably sells it.

erwin has been on the case for almost a year, finally managing to track kenny down and realising he was in this town the whole time.

levi has been acting as some kind of double agent. meeting up with kenny as an associate who was looking to buy drugs while spying on him and helping the police as much as possible to shut the whole network down.

"be careful, he knows the police are on to him."

levi nods and closes the file, handing it back to erwin who slots it back in place on the shelf.

"i'm going to shower and then head out." levi says.

erwin just hums, preoccupied with his phone.

;

levi ran a hand through his hair as he got off his bike and took off his helmet.

he looked up at the pink neon sign of the sleazy club he had agreed to meet kenny in and sighed.

they were so close to finding out the positions of all of kenny's men. just a bit more and they can finally bust the fucker down and arrest him. but for now, levi had to put on an act.

he wore dark gray slacks with a white button down that was open to the top of his chest. the sleeves folded up to elbow length and a leather jacket slings over his left shoulder. he put a cigarette in his mouth and did his best to have a aura of someone looking to buy a whole lot of drugs to sell them off to high school kids.

he enters the club and the pounding music instantly filled him with annoyance. he won't be here longer than he had to.

he goes to a small door in the corner behind the dance floor and knocks on it. someone opens the door and gives him a look, scanning him up and down before letting him inside.

"ah, levi, sit." kenny says, smiling.

he sat on the black velvet couch both arms around one girl each. the girls were wearing almost nothing, just lingerie and a sheer slip. levi swallows his disgust and makes his way to sit across from kenny.

"somebody light his stick for him aye?"

a man comes around from behind levi and holds out a lighter.

levi accepts the light and takes a drag of the cigarette. he looks at kenny as he removes the stick from his lips, and that was when he noticed the raven haired girl sitting across from him, under the right arm of kenny.

she wore a black cat mask that obscured half her face, black lingerie set barely leaving anything to the imagination. his eyes roams her body and settles on her hand which was placed on kenny's chest.

"you like this one?" kenny chuckles, seeing levi's actions.

"sorry, but i like her too. she had to take over one of my angels today, poor girl got into an accident, so it's my first time seeing her, but she's quite a sight ain't she." kenny laughs again.

the said girl giggles and playfully smacks kenny's chest. as she moved her hand levi saw it, the scar that ran from the bottom of her thumb to the middle of her palm.

he met eyes with the girl who glared back at him with steely eyes.

"anyway, you said you were ready to deal, levi?" kenny's question brought levi out of his thoughts.

"yeah, you have everything ready for me right?"

"of course, just go along to one of our warehouses and pick it up whenever."

levi nods, taking another puff.

"regarding the payment," kenny starts, adjusting himself on the couch so he slouched forward, he brought his right arm from around the girl to the glass on the table.

"i've told you it's not a problem, you just have to keep supplying me with the goods."

kenny smirks, "you know i will keep doing that, levi, you have been one of my most loyal customers to date."

levi keeps quiet, unsure of where kenny might be going with this.

"how would you like to start helping me out in the business?" kenny suddenly offered.

levi tried to keep a straight face and not lose his composure.

he smirked back and mimicked kenny's actions, reaching for the glass of liquor on the table, "you know i would love to."

"you start to help me transport a few things around this town, and i give you what you want without charge." kenny deals.

"perfect."

"i'll text you the details."

kenny leans back and replaces his arm around the raven girl, silently concluding their meet up.

levi stands, putting on his leather jacket, nodding to kenny and darting one final glance at the girl before leaving the room.

he felt a bubbling feeling of excitement rising up his stomach. kenny has trusted him enough to invite him into the business, this meant a huge stepping stone for erwin and his case.

his mind flashes back to the raven girl next to kenny.

he had a confrontation to face tomorrow.

-


	4. a few shots fired

levi glances at his watch as he makes his way to the plaza.

he easily spots the rest of the group, marco and eren towering above the passersby. as he starts towards them, he sees mikasa, wearing a white dress and pink sweater, her ever present red scarf around her neck.

heat rises up his stomach as the image of her from last night flashes in his mind.

"levi's here, so now let's just wait for annie!"

"is that her..?" armin squints, spotting a familiar blonde in the crowd.

annie approaches them, wearing a pink hoodie dress and a leather jacket, her feet clad with knee high boots.

"wow..." eren mutters to himself, earning a glance from mikasa.

jean whistles as annie walks towards the group after armin waved her over, "thanks for waiting!"

"no problem, shall we go and see if connie can best jean in mario kart?" marco says, laughing slightly.

the rest of the group cheered, heading in the direction of the arcade.

mikasa purposely hangs back, waiting for levi, who was walking near the back, to catch up. the two of them pause in their steps, facing each other.

"did you need something, cat lady?" levi asks.

her instant tensing of muscles was not missed as she drew a sharp intake of breath.

"if you're who i think you are, then you better stay away from us. or i'll make you regret if you ever bring harm to anyone in the group." she threatens lowly.

"does eren know about your shitty job?"

the glare mikasa sends levi could bring someone to their knees. but levi has seen plenty of such glares from criminals, and he was not intimidated.

"does the police know about your involvement with someone like kenny?" she fires back.

"sure they do, i'm helping them shut him down." he states, matter of factly.

mikasa stops in her tracks and have levi a bewildered look.

"you're what?"

"i'm helping the police. i'm going undercover." he repeats.

mikasa looks away and continues walking.

"you know, you're going to be killed right?" levi asks, catching up to her, "that previous 'angel' of his and her little accident was staged."

linda was her name. she was killed in a road accident, a car rammed her over and sped off, leaving her bleeding out on the streets with people around screaming their heads off. she was crossing the street to approach the police station, presumably to blab about kenny.

"of course i do, but what choice do i have? they offered me the spot, i'm in no position to turn them down."

"just don't go next time." levi says.

"like i said, i don't. have a choice." mikasa insists, "besides, i've already shown myself once, they know who i am. it's going to be a piece of cake to off me if i don't show up the next time, they'll just assume i've gone to the police."

levi tsked under his breath as they finally reached the arcade.

mikasa gave him a final look to warn him about revealing any part of their conversation, and goes up to stand beside eren and armin.

levi looks away from their happy noise as eren and jean battle it out on air hockey and ponders about possible solutions he could give her.

;

"bye guys, i'll see you guys on monday!" mikasa waves as she walked towards the bus stand.

the rest of the gang wave back, shouting goodbyes in her general direction, before talking about what pizza they were going to order.

"i'm telling you, annie, the meat gorilla pizza is the best! combination of turkey ham, bacon and beef pepperoni topped with an insane amount of cheese..." eren trails off, beginning to drool a little.

the rest laugh at his antics.

connie turns to levi, "what kind of pizza do you like? this place has literally all the best combinations."

"uh...probably anything with ham is good for me?" levi replies.

"well you're in for a treat levi, they've got this triple ham pizza and it's _heavenly_." sasha gushes.

they all laugh as they open the door to the pizza place, the bells of the restaurant jangling to signify customers' entrance.

"you guys go ahead, i'm not feeling too well after our uh intense bowling match."

a sudden silence falls over them as they all turn their attention to levi.

"you good man?" jean asks, patting levi slightly on the arm.

"yeah, but i think greasy pizza is just going to make me puke. i'll head home first, see you guys on monday." he bids quickly and turns around.

"what's with him?" connie asks no one in particular.

the rest of them shrug before continuing with their plans, armin and marco teasing eren about hitting on annie the whole of today, and jean calling him a bastard for it, all while annie and sasha were placing their orders at the counter.

levi gets on his bike and quickly rounds the plaza to the bus stop mikasa would be at.

she stares at him as she catches the extra helmet he tosses to her.

"get on."

mikasa puts on the helmet without a word and swings herself onto the bike behind levi, aware of the looks they’re attracting.

levi speeds off, in the direction of the club which was located just at the outskirts of town.

;

they stop a few blocks away from the club and mikasa gets off the bike.

"is kenny going to be here today?"

"i don't know. but if he is, i'll probably be called in again." she says blankly as she returns the helmet to levi.

levi tsks softly and clenches the helmet in his hands.

"thanks for the ride i guess..." mikasa almost whispers, beginning to walk towards the back entrance of the club.

levi sighs, watching her figure enter the building.

inside the club, once mikasa was done changing to her work "uniform", she walks out of the back room, and starts towards the bar.

"mikasa! you're needed in room 2." her boss calls out from behind the counter.

mikasa nods and heads towards the room, silently praying it wouldn't be kenny.

when her boss called in the middle of class and asked her to replace someone's shift that day, she did not expect to be stepping into dangerous waters. her suspicions of what happened to the previous girl was confirmed when kenny mentioned she had gotten into an accident. this man was a criminal, and whoever flaps their mouth in the wrong direction was going to be killed.

she knocks and the door opens. the man guarding the door eyed her up and down before letting her through, purposefully brushing his arm against her body as she passed.

mikasa had been working in this club for two months and she was slowly getting used to the dirty creeps in here, but it still takes a lot of her willpower to try and not punch someone in the face.

when she saw kenny lounging on the couch, her breath hitched, but she drew a lazy smile on her face and strut over to where he sat.

"hello, dear. i just wanted to have a bit of chat with you." kenny says, placing a finger under her chin as she sat down beside him.

"what is it?" mikasa asks in a voice so foreign to her own that she felt like puking.

"how do you know levi?"

she froze for less than a second before plastering the most puzzled expression she could manage on her face, "who?"

kenny laughs.

the door bursts open again this time with two men holding levi on each side.

"him."

mikasa laughs unsurely, "i don't know who he is kenny, is he one of your clients?"

"someone spotted the two of you together today, hanging out, he even sent you here just now didn't he?"

"look kenny, i apologise," levi starts, "i was intrigued after seeing her yesterday and sought her out. but she doesn't remember who i am."

kenny laughs again, the sound booming in mikasa's ears as an uneasy feeling settled in her. she met her eyes with levi, who gave her a subtle nod.

"you can't fool me, levi," kenny stops laughing, "who exactly are you?"

"it's the cops!" someone screams from outside the room. a muffled sound of people running and screaming were heard.

kenny's expression changed into one of fear as the commotion threw them all off guard.

all except levi.

taking advantage of the two men's loosened grip on him, levi flips backwards using them as balance to free himself of their grip. he delivers a kick to the left guy's face, narrowly avoids the fist of the other guy and sends his own fist up to connect cleanly with the bottom of the man's chin, successfully knocking them both out.

he looks towards mikasa to realise she had a knife pressed against kenny's neck, but one of kenny's men had a gun pointed at her.

erwin and two men comes through the door, "police! drop your weapons!" he commanded.

kenny raises his arms up, "you have to help me please! they attacked me out of nowhere!"

"i was talking to the other guy, she can keep that knife on your throat for all i care." erwin says.

kenny's expression changes and in one swift motion, he kicked mikasa in the stomach and flips over the couch, just managing to avoid having his throat slit.

he pulls out a gun and fires without hesitation, in the direction of the police. levi and erwin dodged and hides behind a small wooden table and erwin attempts to fire back, but was stopped by a yell coming from one of his men who had been hit by kenny's bullet.

meanwhile, mikasa tackles the man who had been behind her, pointing his own gun at his head.

kenny changes his aim to the man held at gunpoint and fires a shot, and he collapses onto the floor, dead.

mikasa grabs the man's gun as kenny breaks through the glass window, jumping out and escaping. she aims after him and fires, managing to hit him in the shoulder before he got into a car and sped away.

"erwin! he's losing a lot of blood!"

"call for backup and call the ambulance!" erwin orders.

erwin turns to levi, "you need to get her out of here, she can't be caught up in his mess."

levi nods and without hesitation grabs mikasa by her wrist, pulling her out of the window kenny escaped from.

he shrugs off his jacket as they speed walk to his bike and tosses it to her. mikasa puts on the jacket and kicks off her heels, picking them up in her hands. levi puts the helmet on mikasa before putting on his own, then they both got on the bike and left the vicinity just as more police cars pulled up at the club.

a short twenty minutes later, they arrive at levi and erwin's shared apartment.

"let's go in first, i'm sure erwin will have questions for you after he's done. i also don't think it's safe for you to be alone right now." levi flicks on the lights of the apartment, brightening the room and showing off the homey feel of the place.

"you're not safe either." she says softly, collapsing on the couch.

mikasa takes a look around, everything was very manly, from the wooden mahogany furniture to the black leather couch, even the scent of the place was very prominent. although she did not know what to expect of two guys sharing a space, everything was cleaner than she thought.

"here," levi had went to his room to grab a hoodie and a pair of sweatpants for the girl. he places it beside her on the couch, "the bathroom is to the left of the hall, there are towels in the cabinet if you want to take a shower, i'll be in the kitchen."

mikasa stands up, clothes in hand and goes into the bathroom to wash up.

she hisses as the warm water stings the few small cuts she got during the whole situation. jumping out of a broken window in practically nothing probably caused a few of the cuts on her legs. her hands had a few small gashes from the hurry she was in to grab the knife under the seat cushion.

once she was done and had put on the white hoodie levi gave her, she stepped out, sweatpants in hand and a towel on her head.

she enters the kitchen, "do you have a first aid kit?"

levi turns around, he raises an eyebrow at her appearance, "do you not like my pants or something?"

mikasa says nothing and takes a seat on one of the bar stools at the kitchen counter. he had already seen everything anyways. she lifts her legs and props them on the barstool next to her.

levi moves to open one of the cabinets and retrieves the first aid kit. he walks around the counter to where mikasa was sitting and sets the kit on the counter, inspecting the small cuts on her calves which she probably got while jumping out of the broken window.

levi passes some alcohol swabs to her to disinfect the wound while he looked for band-aids that were the right size. he passes what he finds to the girl, not wanting to touch her without permission since she's probably tired of experiencing that at her job.

while watching her cover up her wounds on her legs, he notices the cuts on her hands, specifically her fingers. he sighs as he takes out an ointment that he could use.

bringing her hands closer to him, he gently applied the ointment on the cuts with a cotton swab, mikasa flinching slightly whenever he made contact with the exposed flesh.

"where did you get the scar?"he asks, referring to the big one on her hand.

"my previous job." she simply states, cutting the topic to an end.

he glances up at her, but she was avoiding his gaze and finding interest in the interior of their kitchen.

the door lock beeps twice and unlocks, revealing erwin who had come back after dealing with the situation.

"you guys alright?" he calls out.

"yeah." levi replies as mikasa puts on the sweatpants.

"hanji was freaking out, it took me everything to convince her that there was no one else at the scene except us, and no not run a test on this knife." erwin says as he produces the butterfly knife mikasa pulled on kenny.

"thanks," she says as he hands her the blade.

levi watched as she handles it with familiarity, closing the blade and sliding it into the hoodie pocket.

"you're both in danger now, you've put yourself on the line against kenny and he will be after you guys. be careful in school...by the way, i don't think i've introduced myself," erwin says, holding a hand out to mikasa, "erwin smith, inspector at the national police department."

"mikasa ackerman," she mutters, shaking his hand.

"levi mentioned you after his meeting with kenny on friday, then he called me earlier in the evening when he saw kenny entering the building after you started your shift. a good thing he did otherwise we wouldn't have been there on time."

mikasa glances at levi who simply rolled his eyes.

"what do you know about kenny?"

"not much, except he's a drug dealer and that he has two warehouses in this area. one down by lingold street and the other up revond avenue."

erwin smiles, "that's plenty of information. thanks, mikasa."

"you should stay for the night, it's dangerous to leave now, kenny has probably sniffed out where you live." levi suggests.

"i wouldn't want to impose, i can take care of myself." mikasa declines.

"no, i insist. i'll send you to your place tomorrow morning."

mikasa sighs, realising that she wasn't in the mood to argue and that she wouldn't win in an argument against him, and nods.

"great! since we don't have any guest rooms, levi will take the couch."

"what..."

"you sure? i can just—"

"no," levi cuts her off, "it's fine."

levi shows the way to his room as erwin retired for the night.

mikasa steps in, the room was simple, a bed in the left corner, a desk and a bookshelf on the right, and a wardrobe and dresser against the left wall. the whole wall opposite the door was a window, floor-length curtains drawn to the side, allowing the whole room to be illuminated by the moonlight.

"don't you dare mess anything up." levi threatens simply before shutting the room door.

mikasa walks towards the bed and collapses on it, making herself comfortable under the blankets, she was lulled to sleep soon after.

-


	5. does he like her?

"slept well?" levi asks as mikasa walks into the kitchen, hair fluffy and eyelids dropping.

she simply nods, sitting on the same barstool she was on last night.

levi had several files open, spread across the kitchen counter, a mug of black tea in his hand.

"breakfast?" he offers.

"what do you have?"

"just search the kitchen and grab whatever you want. coffee and tea are in that drawer." he states, going back to reviewing his documents, a small frown on his face.

mikasa stands up and walks about, settling on making some instant coffee and grabbing an apple to munch on.

"what's that?" she asks.

"kenny's files. thanks to you, we have his final warehouses down. we should be able to apprehend him soon."

mikasa's eyes catches on one of the documents about a hit and run. she skimmed it briefly and realises that the victim was her previous colleague, linda.

"i can help."

"what?" levi baffles at her statement, looking up at the girl as she took another bite of her apple.

"i know where exactly his warehouse at tundor road is, not too sure about the others, but if you need me, i can help with that." she offers, pointing at one of the locations that had been listed.

"it's too dangerous—"

mikasa shoots him a look, "i know what i'm doing and getting myself into. do you want to take him down or not?"

levi hesitates, but judging by her fast reflexes and ability to wield a weapon, he knew that she would be of great help. especially since she says she knows the very building it was in.

"i'll have to get approval from erwin."

"just let me know."

levi stares at the girl who seemed indifferent about being involved in a life threatening situation.

;

true to his promise, levi sends mikasa to where her apartment was supposed to be.

"i'll walk the rest of the way, thanks." she says, getting off.

"what?" levi had been saying that to her a lot lately.

"isn't this where you live?" he gestures to the apartment building in front of them.

mikasa sighs, "it's where eren _thinks_ i live."

"get on," he says, "i'm not leaving you alone until you're safe in your home."

mikasa rolls her eyes, "it's fine i—"

"i know you can take care of yourself, but it's too soon after the incident. we don't know when kenny is coming for you, and since you did shoot him in the shoulder, he'll probably want to do the same, if not worse, to you."

without a word, she slips the helmet back over her head and gets on levi's bike.

"continue straight down and turn left at the intersection." she directs.

levi revs the engine and follows her directions, soon they were in one of the more deserted parts of town.

"just up here."

the bike stops in front of an old three storey building, the light at the entrance flickering.

"so you walk to that place every morning? to wait for eren to pick you up?"

"yes," she replies, getting off the bike once more and this time returning the helmet to levi proper.

there was an awkward silence between them as levi waited for her to walk into the building, but mikasa just stood there, facing him, playing with the strings of his hoodie.

"thank you..." she trails off, "for last night and for the ride home but please," a pause, "don't tell eren about any of this, i beg you..."

levi looks at mikasa, realising how different of a girl she was compared to the tough exterior she always displays.

"i...don't want him to worry."

"i won't." he answers simply, "it's not my place to tell."

she nods before turning around to enter the building.

levi waited until he saw her enter and shut the door behind her. a small window on the second floor opens and mikasa waves at him from it.

he took that as his cue to return home.

;

mikasa shivers as she approached the place they escaped last night. she slips quietly through the back door and heads for her little compartment. with all the commotion last night, she totally forgot she had left her scarf here.

the sun was beginning to set and the club's music cranked louder as people walked in, hoping to waste their sunday night away only to regret it the next morning.

"what do you mean she's not here?" a rough voice, muffled by the closed door and pounding music echoed in her ears.

she grabs what she came for and runs to the changing room, locking herself in one of the stalls, trying to calm her breathing and listen to what the men were saying.

"i'm telling you she doesn't have a shift today. i don't need to call her in either because we have enough staff for the night. i can recommend you one of the others—" she hears her boss explain.

"kenny asked for mikasa and mikasa only. he's willing to pay extra."

she places a hand over her mouth as she realised they were now in the back room.

the boss sighs, "i'll call her, but there's no guarantee she will come."

mikasa quickly fumbles out her phone and silenced it just in time for it to buzz, her boss's contact flashing on her screen. she waits for it to ring out, heart pounding at the close timing.

"there's no answer, she's probably busy. come back on tuesday, she has a shift then."

"give me her address." the man demands.

"i can't just give you our staff's private information!"

there was a thump as her boss yelps.

"her address...or would you like me to break your jaw next?"

"...come with...me..."

the pounding music gets louder momentarily as they open the door and leave the back room.

mikasa calculated she had exactly two minutes to hightail out of the area and find somewhere safe to hide, a place that was no longer her apartment.

she sneaks out of the changing room, looking around quickly before diving for the exit. once out of the building, she stayed in the long shadows cast by the setting sun and moves towards the main road slowly.

;

levi's phone rings and he looks up from his laptop, a frown on his face. could it be erwin? no one else could be calling him. maybe erwin was just calling to double confirm mikasa helping out with their plan to tackle kenny.

he reaches out to pick up his phone from the coffee table in the living room, his eyes widen as 'mikasa' flashes on his screen.

his thumb immediately slides over the accept button.

"hello?"

_"levi, i'm at the main road behind the club. kenny's men are here and they just got my address."_

"what the fuck are you doing back there?!" he springs up from the couch, grabbing his bike keys by the door and throwing on a random pair of sneakers before rushing out of the house.

he jams his finger on the elevator buttons repeatedly, grunting in frustration before taking the stairs.

_"i had to get my scarf, i didn't know they'd be back here."_

"hide and wait. i'll be there in ten."

_"i'll let you know if they're leaving, don't want you to run into them too."_

the line ends as she hangs up. levi jumps on his bike and speeds out of the parking lot. he cuts car after car and gets a few honks as he speeds through red lights. finally, he nears the club and turns towards the road mikasa mentioned.

he spots her crouching near a bush and stops as close as possible, quickly throwing her the helmet.

mikasa puts it on and was barely on the bike before levi flicked his wrist and zoomed out of the area.

"how stupid can you be?! how can you go back there after what happened?" he practically yells at her.

"i left my stuff! i didn't think they'd be there i thought they would be more cautious since the cops know about that place now."

"was kenny there?"

"no..."

levi sighs and slows down his bike now that they were a good distance away.

"his men are a different story, he doesn't care if they're dead or caught, and they've sworn loyalty to him so he's confident they wouldn't reveal anything if caught by the cops."

"then how come he shot the guy last night?"

levi frowns, "maybe he was different."

they arrive at levi and erwin's apartment complex and enter the building. levi looks at the red scarf that mikasa was hugging tightly to her chest.

"does that thing mean that much to you?"

"yes...family gave it to me."

levi decides not to probe further.

"anyway, you'll be safe here. one of the perks about living with erwin, the security in this place is pretty strong, they have to protect confidential documents."

they enter the apartment for the second time that weekend.

"you'll stay here for now. we'll accompany you to move your stuff from your place to ours later tonight."

"okay," mikasa nods, knowing she wasn't in the position to refuse unless she wanted to be dead the next morning.

levi collapses on the couch, his heart still pounding fast after the exciting event that unfolded within the hour.

he had been sitting peacefully in his living room, working on a school assignment and suddenly he was on his bike, with mikasa, and they were running from kenny and his men.

he breathes a chuckle at the ridiculousness of it all.

mikasa seems to catch on to what levi was laughing at. she didn't know what she was expecting when she made the decision to go back there, but of all the possible scenarios she definitely didn't think she would end up on levi's bike, running from her workplace, practically homeless, and having to crash with two guys for who knows how long.

she laughs at the absurdity of her reality.

and together they both had a full on laughing fit, lasting until even after erwin opens the door, coming home after a long day, and walking in to the two of them pretty much wheezing on the floor.

"is there laughing gas in our apartment or is someone going crazy..?"

they both looked up at his words and then at each other, before breaking into uncontrollable laughter once more.

erwin raises his eyebrows, and simply walks past them. he desperately needs a shower.

after they had both settled down, mikasa plops down on the couch next to levi, both of them staring into space with nothing on their minds.

well, nothing was on mikasa's mind, but levi's head was running, mikasa's laughter playing over and over again. he had never heard her laugh properly, it was usually to scoff at jean or chuckle at sasha and connie, but never did he think she was capable of cracking up like that.

there were more sides to her than levi thought, and he was curious to see if he could figure all of them out.

"now that you both have calmed down, shall we discuss our plans against kenny?" erwin says emerging from the hallway, freshly showered.

a serious mood drapes over the three of them as the two ackerman on the couch nods.

"so, plan of attack or ambush or whatever," erwin starts.

levi rolls his eyes, erwin has a thing for adjectives.

the three of them sat on the floor of the living room, files and documents spread across the table, a box of pizza on the side.

erwin takes a bite of the pepperoni and mushroom slice in his hand, "we'll be raiding all of the warehouses at once. hanji will be taking a squad and hitting up revond avenue. levi, with the help of a few men will target lingold street. mikasa will be taking down the one on tundor road, of course you'll have backup too, and i will coordinate the ambush as well as cut off his final warehouse in this town, at poinebeck plaza."

mikasa shakes her head, "no, tundor road is not heavily guarded, i can handle it myself, send the men to lingold, that's kenny's biggest warehouse and where he's at most of the time."

"we can't leave you without backup." levi's tone shuts her suggestion down immediately.

"i can handle an old man." he assures, turning back to erwin.

erwin thinks over mikasa's words with a finger on his chin.

"it's crucial for it all to be well coordinated so kenny doesn't see it coming...so if there is delayed action in one of the warehouses, his network will inform him of what's happening within five minutes, and they could call in backup or escape."

"there won't be a delay. we all bust in on your command and arrest whoever is in the place at the time. doesn't matter if kenny is present or not."

"and i'm telling you, lingold will be full of men, you can't possible arrest all of them at once if you don't have enough men. from what i've seen, tundor is guarded by just one man, it will be easy for me to restrain him." mikasa argues back.

"what if there's more than just one? what if kenny happens to be there on that day?"

"wait did you say seen? as in you've seen the actual warehouse?" erwin asks as he catches on to mikasa's words.

"i mean...yes?"

silence blankets them. slowly, erwin looks up and locks eyes with mikasa. levi frowns.

"no way, erwin—"

"if you're confident—"

"yes! just trust me on this."

erwin sighs.

"look levi, i understand where you're coming from and i am aware of the danger she will be put in, but we are short handed on this case right now and we need all the men where they have to be."

levi's frown deepens, but he stays quiet.

"okay mikasa, we're counting on you."

mikasa nods, "anyway, i'm grateful to you both for allowing me to stay here for the meantime, but well my school uniform is still in my house and as well as many of my things..."

"of course, we'll take my car." erwin stands up, starting to organise everything back.

levi follows his actions. he could feel mikasa's eyes on him and he did her best to ignore her gaze. he was silently fuming on the inside, she was just getting herself into unnecessary trouble, just like earlier this evening, and if she was going to recklessly put her own life at risk all the time then so be it, he didn't care.

the trio took the lift down to the basement and began walking to erwin's car. levi carries an empty box with him for mikasa to use to pack her stuff. his head was still running, trying to figure out why this absolute stubborn-ass bitch liked putting herself into situations where she could possibly get hurt, or die.

the ride to her place was silent, save a few moments where mikasa directs erwin on where to go.

"here's the place."

erwin looks out at the building and whistles, the place was a dumpster glorified into a living space.

"i won't be ten minutes."

after mikasa leaves the car and disappears into the building, levi turns to face erwin from the passenger seat.

"after i do what i have to do at lingold street, i'm going down to tundor to back her up."

erwin nods, " i thought you might say that, i'll send hanji to pick up wherever you leave off."

levi just grunts, still not happy about the arrangement, but knowing that there was no other way to convince the stubborn girl.

"do you like her?"

"the _fuc—_ " levi chokes on nothing.

"it's not that big of a leap levi, you're investing a lot into her, more than you seem to realise."

"no, i do not have feelings for that brat. i'm sure you don't like seeing someone put their own life at risk for no reason either."

erwin makes a sound with his mouth, "that's true, but i don't go out of my way to protect them."

"whatever, _shitty eyebrows_."

erwin breaks a smile at the nickname, knowing that levi only called him that when he has nothing else to defend himself with. erwin knows he won this round, and that he was probably right about the other male's feelings.

mikasa comes stumbling out, the once empty box filled to the brim. she opens the car door and tosses the box into the back seat before climbing in herself.

"got everything?" erwin asks, looking at her through the rear view mirror like a creep.

levi rolls his eyes, why couldn't he just turn around?

"yep." mikasa replies.

a ghost of a smile falls on her features as she snuggles into the red scarf. levi felt his heart pound.

he thought about what erwin said.

"there's no way..." he mumbles to himself, glancing at erwin who had a shitty smile on his shitty face.

oh how he felt like punching the lights out of him.

-


	6. a food fight

-

**eren 💛**

where r u?

_shit|_

i'm at school...

**eren 💛**

did u take the bus?????

_levi sent me..|_

yeah i did

**eren 💛**

how come u didn mention anything to me

sorry...i forgot to inform you...

i'm so sorry eren

please don't be angry

**eren 💛**

i'm not!

i swear i don't mind i just find it weird

i've been sending u to school since freshman year

i had to meet up with ms ilse this morning and i forgot to let you know

that's why i came earlier

**eren 💛**

it's alright

i'll see u in school then

-

monday's lunch break had the whole table smelling the unmissable mushroom burger coming from armin's tray.

"what did you have to meet ms ilse for?"

"uh just something about my credit during summer's arts class."

"oh."

"you took arts class in summer? how come i didn't— _ah_!" jean yelps as levi sent a kick under the table.

"the fuck was that for, levi?!" he glares at the shorter male.

"oops, my legs are too long." levi deadpans.

everyone laughs at jean's baffled face and the attention was turned away from mikasa's sudden arts class.

she shoots levi a thankful smile.

"anyway levi, you'll be joining us for your first practice of the season! i'm so excited to have someone as athletic as you join our team."

"yeah, coach keith let you on the team after just one look man, you must be something." connie says, thinking back to the day when coach keith simply eyed levi up and down before shouting "get him to practice next week!"

"you any good at soccer?" jean asks.

"i used to play back in eldian high, but i quit after two seasons, i had to set my focus on something else."

"cool, what position did you play?" eren asks.

"central midfielder."

jean chokes on his soup as connie spits out his iced coffee. the whole scene was a little comedic as eren drops his spoon.

"woah..." sasha marvels, "the air smells like coffee...i love it!"

annie calmly picks up eren's spoon and places it back in his hand.

"you played a _what_?! dude that position is worth scholarships!"

levi shrugs, he's heard that before from a certain blonde with shitty eyebrows.

"since the guys said you're the captain i'm assuming you're a goalie, eren?" levi asks.

eren regains his thoughts, "yeah, it's the most common for a goalie to be made captain. jean is a striker and connie's our right fullback. armin here is a left winger and marco's a center back. you'll meet the rest of the guys at practice later."

"are you going to watch mikasa? then we can hang out afterwards like we usually do at eren's place." armin asks.

"sure, i'd lo—" she catches levi's gaze.

they were supposed to review plans with hanji after school today and perform the raid tomorrow night. they had to act fast before kenny pulls his own move.

"actually, i just remembered i was called for shift awhile ago...i can watch practice but i'll have to leave about 5pm."

"aw man, who's the bastard that keeps calling in sick? is it that hard to make coffee?" eren groans as his childhood friend was asked to cover someone's shift for the second time in two weeks.

"what coffee?" levi says softly.

he catches glimpse of mikasa's instant death glare and remembers that to them, she worked a fully normal job at a cafe in the city. he shuts his mouth and decides to sip his black tea instead.

"yeah, it's a virus that's been passing around recently..."

"take care of yourself, i don't want you falling sick." jean says, reaching a hand out and touching mikasa's forehead.

"i'm perfectly fine you idiot." she slaps his hand away.

"aw..." sasha coos to annie, "aren't they the cutest couple?"

levi had to suppress a gag rising up his throat as eren exclaims " _ew_!" in an ultimately disgusted voice.

"mikasa deserves so much better than _horse face_."

"hey!"

eren sticks his tongue out and jumps out from his seat, narrowly avoiding the fork that flew in his direction. the metal fork clangs against the tile floor as the whole group erupted in laughter, eren continually dodging random things jean was throwing at him.

"food fight!" someone in the cafeteria shouted.

there was a roar of cheers as students began chucking leftovers on their meal trays at each other.

mikasa ducks under the table to find levi already there, holding up his own tray as a shield.

"can't believe you shits are turning eighteen and starting food fights..."

"tell that to the senior years who are having the time of their lives right now."

"if i get one stain on my shirt i swear i'm—"

levi was cut off by something disgusting and wet being smeared on him going from his shoulder all the way down his arm to his wrist.

he turns around, almost slowly, as if not believing what just happened.

mikasa squats a little behind him, a playful smirk on her face, her hand covered in the red spaghetti sauce.

"you absolute brat..."

sensing imminent danger approaching, mikasa begins to inch away from the male.

"you wanna play this stupid game?" levi asks sarcastically.

he flips the meal tray in his hands to show her the dirty side that he had been using to eat his pasta and cheese fries. it was covered in tomato sauce, cheese sauce, and a bit of the coffee that connie spat at everyone just now.

levi lunges for her as she dived backwards, trying her best to avoid what the situation had become.

she involuntarily let out a squeal as levi grabbed her by her calf and literally pulled her into his arms, where the dirty tray awaits.

he rubs in onto her, aiming to get the food stain on her face as she did her best to block with her arms.

mikasa hits the tray out of his grip and levi drops forward, losing his balance slightly. he catches himself by placing his elbows on the floor.

it was only then he realised how close they were.

mikasa was lying on her back, levi practically straddling her. most of his weight was on his elbows, which led to his face being extremely close to mikasa's. both of them were slightly panting, mikasa's face tingeing pink from all the excitement.

around them, the noise of the food fight began to die down as all they could hear was their own heartbeat.

levi takes a moment to fully appreciate how beautiful she really is. there was never much of her face on show with half of it being hidden by her scarf and the other half by her shoulder length hair.

here, as she lay with her hair fanned around and her scarf loosened by the ruckus, he could see her steely gray eyes that were hardened by the things she'd seen, he could see a little scar, no deeper than a paper cut, on the top of her cheek just below her eye, he could see her porcelain skin up close, and her pinkish lips and was soft and inviting—

_the fuck, levi ackerman. get your shit together._

he clears his throat and backs away. scooting out from under the table as the food fight had seemingly stopped.

mikasa let's go of the breath she wasn't even aware she was holding as levi puts some distance between them.

in that short few moments she had thoroughly studied his facial features up close from his pointed eyes and rather dark under eye bags, to his nose and his flawless cheeks, to his lips. this man was a creation of god indeed. mikasa found herself hoping he wouldn't hear her heart pounding in her chest, as she stared at his lips. his tongue flicks out subconsciously and her breath hitches a little.

she had found herself looking at him more often these past few days. levi doesn't say much with words, but his subtle changes in expression says a lot. she has been studying him, trying to figure out what goes on in his head.

she has been able to identify the little frown he makes when he concentrates, his subconscious tongue flicks when he thinks about something he wants to do, the way his shoulders relax whenever he drinks his black tea, and most importantly, the way he so desperately wants to protect everyone from everything.

from what she'd seen, his discussions with erwin about how to do things without risks, the extra time he spends thinking about how to approach the case in a safer way, and the effort he puts in to make sure no one is hurt on his watch.

it was as if like he had suffered great loss, perhaps in his past life, perhaps in this life, but he was a man that had been stripped of much happiness, and had been rid of everything he holds dear, which is why he so desperately tries to save everyone. 

"what is going on here?!" mr mike shouts, ms louise and ms ilse standing slightly behind him, horror evident on their faces as they took in the sight of the messed up cafeteria.

"who is that culprit that started this?"

no one said anything, but everyone turned to look in the direction of eren and gang.

"curse us for choosing this damn huge table where we would be the centre of attention. i bet if we sat next to the dumpsters no one would have paid attention to us throwing food at each other." eren mumbles just loud enough for the group to hear and they all tried to suppress their laughter.

"eren jaeger and jean kirstein, come with me."

" _fuck_? why the hell did he call _me_?" jean complains in shock.

the rest couldn't help it anymore and a few giggles escaped sasha's lips.

connie and marco burst out laughing immediately after the door shuts.

levi offers a hand to help mikasa stand.

"thanks," she breathes.

levi snorts as he looks at her uniform. mikasa looks down at herself and sees the red and yellow stains on her blouse.

"yeah well at least i don't have a bloody red arm." she chirps.

levi's laugh was cut short as he was instantly reminded of all the cleaning he'd have to do to get rid of the stain on his sleeve and on the side of the shirt. he was probably going the bleach it four times at minimum.

the bell rings, signalling the end of lunch period. the students walk out of the cafeteria, laughing at how ridiculous they looked.

"i kinda feel bad for eren and jean," someone says along the hallway.

"yeah it wasn't like they wanted it to be a food fight."

"who was the dude that shouted food fight anyway?"

"i don't even know where the shout came from honestly."

"i hope the headmaster doesn't talk to coach keith about it," mikasa says to levi softly, "coach might take eren's title away, he's been stressing about that for awhile."

"well maybe they'll just get away with cleaning up the cafeteria." levi assures her as they walk back to class.

;

"cleaning up the cafeteria _and_ having my captain status revoked! how fucking great." eren groans.

the bell had just rang for the day to end and the gang had stopped by eren's locker to check on what punishment he was given.

eren grabs jean by his collar, "you better do a fucking good job at captain for now, until i work back the title."

jean shakes himself away, "fine i will, practice starts in an hour, let's clean that shit and go."

"the rest of us will help!" marco exclaims looking at the group.

levi made a "tch" sound as the rest nodded enthusiastically.

they started towards the cafeteria, but stood at the doors, in disbelief at the state of the hall.

"who the fuck managed to get food on the ceiling?" connie gapes.

the walls and floors were covered in leftover food, the tables in a similar state, there were meal trays scattered all over the place and they all breath out a sigh.

eren groans as armin passes him a mop.

;

the boys hurry to the men's locker room to get changed and go out onto the field before 3 o'clock. they managed to make it just the minute before and faked warming up just in time for coach keith to appear on the field.

mikasa, sasha and annie took a seat on the bleachers, along with a few other girls who were excitedly gossiping about the boys.

"levi is so hot! i bet you he'll say yes if i ask him to summer ball."

"oh he _so_ will, you guys are made for each other, petra!"

the girl who goes by the name of petra was also a junior in class 1. she has short strawberry blonde hair, honey brown eyes, and a killer smile. she was also known as the head cheerleader, and thus the school's queen bee. even the seniors were under her influence.

"i knew that without you telling," petra says, "when we start cheer practice next week, i'll make sure to grab his attention."

on the field, coach keith approaches levi.

"what position did you used to play?"

"central midfield, coach."

"you'll take that position on the second string and play a match against the first string, i'll evaluate your performance."

levi nods at his instructions and glance over to where the second string was standing. the team consisted of a few juniors and seniors but mostly sophomores.

he jogs over to them as coach keith starts reprimanding eren for starting trouble in school and shifting the captain title to jean.

a few of the juniors who recognise levi offer handshakes and a few greetings were heard. levi then turns and introduces himself to the rest who didn't know who he is.

"my name is levi, i'm a junior in class 1 who just transferred here. i'll be playing central midfielder with you guys against the first string."

"glad to have you levi, let's show coach and these first string fuckers we can play better than them."

"wait but if you're central mid, what position do i play?" a senior asks.

"freudenberg! you'll join the third string's practice today!" coach keith yells.

"seriously?!"

"both teams line up!" coach's voice booms across the field as the third string begin their drills.

the boys formed lines, facing their opponent of the same position.

levi faces a boy in a sleeveless jersey, he had a boxy face and black hair. he sticks his hand out, "gunther schultz, word is you're out for my position," he smirks, "well it won't be easy."

levi smirks back, liking this challenge gunther has provided. 

;

"thanks for the game!" both teams shout as the whistle was blown.

coach keith stares at the scoreboard, he shakes his head slightly as he looks at levi, who is currently being bombarded by the rest of the team.

how could one person single handedly bring up the second string's score by three points?

he knew what he has seen was not the full potential of levi. if supported by the right teammates and playing in an actual competition, levi would soar.

" _never!_ " connie exclaims, his arm around levi's shoulders, "never in the past years had the first string won by just one point!"

paradis high was considered a powerhouse in the district. once, five years ago, the team then had even made it to nationals. as such, coach keith was very strict about practice, always maintaining high standards and making decisions to push the team to becoming champions. the boys were good, they always were, but they had always been missing one factor and that was what cost them their appearance at nationals these past four years.

and right now, as coach keith looks between levi and the 5-4 scoreboard, and thinks about how one player resulted in three goals in a row against the first string, he knows levi is the missing factor.

"schultz, ackerman, i wish to speak to both of you."

the boys hushed as both players made their way to coach who looked deep in thought.

"bet, coach is gonna switch levi to first string," jean whispers.

the rest of them stay quiet, knowing that it was probably true.

they watched as coach spoke to them, and then gunther raised his arm and he and levi exchanged a bro-shake, gunther smiles and says something to levi before walking towards the locker room.

"practice adjourned, good job today boys, see you guys on wednesday." coach keith announces.

eren jogs over to levi first, "you on first string now?"

levi just nods, maybe he should have held back a little bit more, if he was on the first string, he'd have to commit, but how could he if he constantly has to help erwin with different cases?

levi walks into the locker room, the rest of the team trailing behind.

he approaches gunther, who was changing into fresh clothes, "hey, i think you should remain on the first string, i'll talk to coach about it."

gunther's expression became furious.

"are you fucking _pitying_ me?"

"what, no i—"

he slams a fist onto the locker and the whole room silenced.

"if coach has made the decision to put you on the main team, we both listen to him and you play as if your life is on the line and get us to nationals. but don't worry, i won't just let you sit comfortably, i'll make sure you're constantly aware you can be replaced anytime."

"it wasn't pity but i withdraw my words, and you can count on us going to nationals." levi growls back.

gunther huffs and leaves the locker room. the tension dies down as the chatter begins again.

levi rubbed his hair with his towel as he peels off his sweaty jersey. he quickly puts on a new shirt and gets ready to leave the locker room.

he stops and cringes at the sight of the rest of the boys stuffing their sweat infused shirts into their bags along with the school uniform and their study materials.

levi decides to ignore it and leaves, murmuring a goodbye to the gang.

-


	7. a—no, two awkward encounters

"i'll see you guys tomorrow," mikasa waves at the rest, starting to walk towards the bus stop.

"bye, mikasa!"

"shall we?" armin asks eren.

eren nods, "wanna come, annie?" he asks, ears turning a little red.

annie nods and smiles.

"well eren, i'll be sending sasha, jean and marco home so i don't think i can hang out but thanks for asking!" connie exclaims sarcastically.

they share a laugh before parting, promising to hang out the next day.

levi gets on his bike, revving the engine and heading for the bus stop quickly.

there, mikasa stood, waiting for him.

levi passes her the extra helmet, "hurry up, i want to go home and take a shower, i stink."

" _i stink_!" mikasa mocks, getting on behind him.

"bitch." levi chuckles, waiting for mikasa to hold on to his jacket as usual before speeding off.

;

hanji and erwin spring apart as levi and mikasa enter the apartment.

"oh hey! you're back!" erwin clears his throat, his neck turning a little red.

hanji coughs as mikasa raises an eyebrow.

"both of you better not have done anything filthy on the damn couch." levi grumbles, slinging his bag over his shoulder and heading for his room.

"i'll be out after a shower."

mikasa stood awkwardly for awhile, looking at everything but the two sitting at both edges of the couch.

"i'll make some coffee," she states, quickly escaping from the living room.

she steps into the kitchen and sighs, reaching for where the mugs were kept and grabbing one. she hums as she picks out the packet of instant coffee she wants.

"were they doing the nasty?" levi's voice was heard.

mikasa breathes a laugh, "no, but i just had to get out of the room."

levi complains about erwin and his girlfriend's tendency to be lost in their own world as he reached for a mug for himself.

the pair returned to the living room to see that the other two have prepped all the documents needed on the coffee table, and are engaged in a rather serious discussion about the plans the next day.

the four of them sat down and reviewed the information they had. it was around 11pm at night when they finalised everything and bid hanji farewell.

;

mikasa opens her eyes and stares at the ceiling. she glances towards the digital clock on the night stand, the numbers illuminating in the dark.

_3:28am_

she flips the blanket off her body and sits up.

her mind was buzzing with the plans they had. she was hoping to be able to pull everything off in accordance to what she had in mind.

mikasa swings her legs over to get off the bed. she had been staying in levi's room for the time being while he slept on the couch. she felt bad of course, but both her housemates had insisted on the arrangement and whatever arguments she has were out of the question.

she pads out slowly, intending to go for the kitchen.

she glances into the living room as she passed and paused at the sight of levi leaning on the railings of the balcony, the wind tousling his hair.

"can't sleep?" he asks, turning his head around to face her as she slides the glass doors shut.

"yeah," mikasa replies, taking a seat on the balcony sofa.

levi walks over and flops beside her.

"you?" she asks him back.

"i don't really sleep in general."

mikasa hums, not wanting to pry.

"look, mikasa," levi starts, "if you run into any trouble tomorrow, run and hide. don't even bother about the mission. i'll come get you as soon as i can."

"won't you be busy too?"

"it doesn't matter. if you suspect anything, at all, just give me a call and i'll be right over, okay?"

mikasa nods in response.

"by the way, you have a date for the summer ball."

levi gives the girl a weird look, "what nonsense are you uttering this time?"

"you'll see," she smiles to herself.

levi grumbles about not even knowing there was a summer ball and how mikasa constantly made no sense.

the two of them stayed on the balcony for another hour, no words passing between them, just the rustling of the night wind, the moon and the stars.

;

it was tuesday's lunchtime, the gang sat at the table, with the school's tuesday turkey sandwich wafting from armin's tray.

as they were laughing at the usual squabbles between jean and eren, someone approaches their table and places themselves into the empty seat next to levi. an awkward silence blankets over them as they realised it was petra, head cheerleader and queen bee.

"hey levi," she greets, smiling and batting her eyelashes at him.

"uhm...hi?"

"is something wrong with her eyes?" eren 'discreetly' whispers to armin who just smiles at his friend's oblivion.

"can i sit here? you guys have one empty seat anyways," she asks in a nasally voice.

"what about your friends?" sasha asks, looking towards the cheer squad table that was just a few metres away.

petra shoots a pointed look but quickly paints on a smile, "that table is full for today,"

she looks back at levi and winks, "besides, i'd rather sit here."

levi quirks up an eyebrow but remains silent. jean and marco, who caught the gist of things, rolls their eyes and resumes eating. connie and sasha began a conversation about the intricacies of reindeer horns, while mikasa snickers at levi's situation.

the strawberry blonde girl start striking a conversation with the stoic male, asking questions like, "what do you think about my perfume?" "do you have a girlfriend?" "are you free on saturday?" "who are you partnering up with for the physics project?"

levi looks around the table but everyone was busy in their own conversations, not particularly caring about the flirting girl. he clears his throat quietly, trying to gain the attention of anyone, but to no avail. mikasa, who sits in front of the male, notices his constipated expression and holds back a laugh.

"hey levi, i need to discuss the uh physics project with you."

levi stands immediately, not really having the patience to put up with petra for any longer.

"but—"

mikasa glares at petra and she immediately shuts up and averts her gaze back to her food.

the duo return their meal trays and walk out of the noisy cafeteria. once they were in the hallway, levi lets out a sigh of relief, "thanks."

"you've saved me a few times, thought i should return the favour."

"you should talk to her though," mikasa suppresses a laugh, "she is your date for the summer ball."

levi gapes at her words and stops walking for a moment, "you're kidding?"

when mikasa didn't reply but instead kept walking towards her locker, realisation dawned on levi that this was what the girl had meant last night, or rather in the early morning.

"jesus f—"

the bell rings, cutting off the rest of levi's beautiful sentence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for your support thus far!


	8. a coordinated scuffle

the sound of the final bell rings throughout the school and students from all classrooms rushed to get out as the teachers shouted out their last sentences.

"...and remember your pair project that's due in three weeks!" mr sonny, the physics teacher shouts over the ruckus.

"right, i'm with marco!" connie shouts, bagging his project partner before anyone could say anything.

"you're partnering up with levi, right mikasa?" armin asks.

"huh, no i'm—"

"hey levi, this is your last chance to change your mind, are you sure you wanna partner with some ugly freak?" petra walks up to levi, glaring at mikasa with a look of distaste.

mikasa matches with a steely gaze of her own, raising her chin slightly to show that she was in no way afraid of petra ral.

"don't you usually partner with hitch?" connie asks her.

"i thought i should extend my knowledge to the new student as he might not know how our school's system works yet. c'mon levi—"

"i'm already with mikasa so i think you should find someone else." levi cuts her off and quickly exits the classroom, not wanting to hear her voice any longer.

mikasa sends a sorry glance to armin, whom she usually partners with for projects. armin smiles back, indicating that he didn't mind, before turning to ask boris if he wanted to be project partners.

petra glares at mikasa and hissed, "you won't stop me from getting what i want."

mikasa just rolls her eyes and walks away. 

"hey!" eren yells and runs over to her, "let's go to connie's."

"actually, eren, i don't feel like video games today..."

"oh...then i'll send you home? you're not sick are you?"

"no! i mean, yeah i'm fine i uh- i was just...uhm..."

"we were going to go to my place to start on the physics project. you guys should too, isn't it due in three weeks?" levi's voice saves mikasa from her stuttering.

a look of realisation crosses eren's face before he mutters 'crap' and dashes back into the hallways. mikasa breathes a sigh and slightly smiles in levi's direction, silently thanking him for the save. 'what a mess,' she thought, 'he saves me from eren and i save him from petra.'

they made their way towards the carpark and did the usual routine of putting on helmets and getting on the bike, except this time, mikasa could hear whispers and gossips, mainly from the female student body as she got on the bike of the 'hot transfer from class 1'. she never knew levi was so popular, sure he was good looking but he had the attitude of an asshole.

she wonders what people see in him.

;

the elevator dings as they reach their floor. levi unlocks the door and enters with mikasa following behind.

"lets get ready for tonight i guess," levi says.

mikasa goes to take a shower while levi rummages his closet for suitable clothes, something that he doesn't mind getting a little dirty but also something that could easily wash out at the same time. he picks out a plain black cotton tee and dark jeans that were ripped at the knees for easy movement.

he grabs his towel and heads to the bathroom after mikasa's exit, quickly showering and putting on his clothes. they would wait for erwin to return before leaving together.

levi walks into the living room to see mikasa clad in leather leggings and a dark red fitting tee.

"what material is your shirt?" levi asks, wanting to impart his knowledge of washable fabrics.

"it's not girlfriend material if that's what you're asking," mikasa says with a roll of her eyes, turning around to face the male.

there was an awkward silence as she took in levi's confused expression, realising that he probably didn't mean what she thought he did.

"uh...jean uses that line on me sometimes, he'd ask what material my clothes are made of and then say it's 'girlfriend' material so i thought you..." she trails off, "it's polyester."

"not something i'd recommend. cotton is still the best when it comes to washing out dirt."

"yeah but maroon is the best colour choice," she argued back, "especially when there's possibility of bl—"

"hey guys, how's school?" erwin comes through the door.

"fabulous." levi answers curtly.

"good to know you're keeping up with the adjectives," erwin winks, "get it? like keeping up with the..."

levi's bored face and mikasa's questioning look was enough to stop the blonde man in his sentence. he shakes his head with a sigh and just gestures for the two to follow.

they enter erwin's room and mikasa looks around, having never seen it before.

there was a double bed in the centre of the room, an en-suite connected to its left. two dressers and a bookcase with files, plaques, trophies and photo frames decorating its shelves against the wall opposite the bed. like levi's, the floor-to-ceiling window flooded light into the room, colouring the furniture a sunset orange as erwin made his way to the desk that was placed in front of it.

he squats down and unlocks the bottom drawer of the desk, pulling it open to reveal a collection of weaponry. mikasa raises an eyebrow at the sight.

erwin was quick to explain himself, "don't worry, these are all government issued, its fine."

"you know how to use one of these?" levi asks as erwin hands mikasa a standard glock.

"yeah," she replies nonchalantly.

"hopefully you don't have to use it, if everything goes well, these handcuffs should be all you need."

erwin passes mikasa a set of handcuffs, the girl slips it, along with the gun, into the waistband of her pants, pulling the hem of her shirt down to cover it. levi mimics her actions as erwin equips himself as well.

"shall we?"

the two ravenettes nod their heads in response.

;

levi kills the engine of his bike and pockets his keys.

lingold street was a shopping district with an innocent front, but past the back alleys of branded storefronts, a different kind of 'shopping district' could be found, it was the perfect place for one of kenny's biggest warehouses.

levi and eleven other men spread around the area and entered the district individually. they headed for kenny's warehouse without sparing one another a glance and entered.

going down a tight alley, levi comes face to face with a metal door. he pushes and it opens with a rumble. once inside, levi looks around and makes sure all the men were in position while counting the total number of kenny's men and 'customers' that were present.

he glances at his watch, and began to mentally countdown to the exact time the ambush is to be executed.

he walks deeper into the crowd, but could not spot kenny anywhere. a ball of dread began to form at the pit of his stomach.

"hey, you!" one of kenny's men calls out to levi.

levi glances at his watch again.

"are you levi ackerman?" the man asks in a gruff voice.

"i don't know who you're talking about."

the man grabs levi by the collar, "don't fuck around with me. i was told by the boss this morning that if some short fuck with dark hair named levi ackerman shows up i gotta kill him."

"and i suppose in your _stupid_ little brain i am that _short fuck with dark hair_?" levi scowls as he spat out the description of himself.

"you—"

"now!" levi suddenly yells.

the rest of the men spring into action, blocking the exits and taking down the people in the warehouse one by one.

the man holding onto levi's collar grunts as levi sends a kick to his ribs, effectively knocking off his grip. levi performs a roundhouse kick to the man's head, bringing him down onto the floor. he produces handcuffs and restrains the man quickly before moving on to someone else.

after roughly fifteen minutes of the scruffle, the situation quiets down.

"everyone okay?" he asks the rest of the men. positive replies were called back as they replied levi's question.

"you, report to erwin," levi orders one of the policemen.

standing in one of the corners of the warehouse, levi pulls out his phone and dials mikasa.

"c'mon..." he mumbles to himself as he listens to the ringing that sounded way too long.

with his phone still pressed against his ear, levi grabs one of kenny's men by the throat, "where is kenny?" he growls threateningly.

"we don't know! he doesn't tell us where he would be all the time but he usually spends his time at tundor's main office, you'd have more luck running into him there."

"tsk," levi brings down his phone and presses the 'call again' button, beginning to walk towards the exit of the warehouse.

"watch them carefully, hanji will be here soon," he instructs as he leaves the warehouse and breaks into a run, getting on his bike and heading towards tundor road.

even if he speeds all the way, it would still take him a good twenty minutes to get to her. he could only hope that everything was fine and that nothing bad has happened.

;

mikasa thanks the cab driver as she exits the vehicle. she looks around and recalls the memory of coming to tundor road every night for the past two years. she thought she had successfully broken free of its grasp but here she was once again.

the truth is, while kenny's largest warehouse was at lingold street, the main office which was used to meet vip clients and perform cash transactions mainly happened here in tundor road, and mikasa knew this information too well.

she enters the shady nightclub and squeezed her way towards the back where a dark stairwell leads downstairs to the basement. mikasa pushes open the shabby wooden door with her shoulder and steps into a familiar room. it was squeezed full of people as usual, the pounding bass of the club music could be felt vibrating through the walls.

in the middle of the room, there was a poorly constructed 'boxing ring', its boundaries marked by wooden planks and stainless steel pipes that were dragged in and elevated with the use of wooden palates.

a fight was going on while mikasa made her way around the room. she recognised the two people in the ring as 'granite boulder'; a bulky guy who looked pretty scary and wields a sharp dagger but has a surprising weakness, and 'katana' who is a petite woman wearing brass knuckles and was extremely agile for her age. they had both sustained a few injuries from the fight and were currently rounding each other, probably hesitating.

however, in a ring like this one with no rules, no referee, no judge and an audience who just want to win their bets, hesitating is not something you can afford.

"just kill her already!"

"knock him out! bash his head in!"

"slice her throat!"

the shouts of the audience spurred the two to move forward and attack, although the winner was already quite apparent to mikasa.

"hey! i bet a hundred on you tonight so if you dare lose to some bitch i'll kill you myself!"

through all the ruckus, mikasa finally stands in front of kenny's door. she reaches behind her and places a hand on the doorknob, she slides the gun out from her waistband and holds low it by her side, making sure everyone was still distracted by the fight.

in a swift movement, she opens the door and steps in, raising the gun and pointing it at kenny as she shuts and locks the door behind her.

"mikasa! what a surprise, have a seat dear," kenny smiles at the girl.

mikasa notices the blonde girl who was in kenny's office as well, and the two guards behind kenny who had their own guns pointed at her.

"well, if it isn't the red queen herself! what a pleasant surprise to have you back here." the blonde addresses mikasa, rising from the couch.

"shut up, angel, i'm only here for kenny."

"mikasa is the red queen? how surprising! although i have to say that it fits you very well."

the blonde lady motions for mikasa to approach her and spread open her arms, asking for a hug. mikasa only glared back.

'angel' was what everyone called her because of her angel like appearance with her blonde hair and sparkly blue eyes, but her real name was never disclosed. she used to be one of the regular fighters along with mikasa, until she took over and became the woman in charge.

"whatever it is that she did, can you forgive her please? she's my star fighter~!"

"your little star fighter sold me out to the cops, angel," kenny starts.

mikasa takes the moment of distraction to drop down and shoot both of kenny's guards who were distracted for merely a second, listening to kenny's words. she stands back up and points the gun at kenny again.

"enough talk," she pulls out the handcuffs, "put these on."

a shocked expression briefly crosses kenny's face before his usual smirk reappears.

"the rest of your warehouses are being seized as we speak. give up, kenny."

kenny's smirk only grew bigger, "the rest you say? i'm assuming its only those you've heard about then."

mikasa's heart drops as she realises that there could have been other locations that erwin didn't figure out and that she's never heard of.

"mikasa, calm down, kenny brings excellent news! he knows where rod reiss is hiding, we can get our revenge." 'angel' says, not fazed by the fact that mikasa just shot dead two people in the same room.

at the mention of rod reiss, mikasa's body tenses up, horrible memories flooding her brain.

she narrows her eyes as she snaps back into reality, "where is he?"

kenny laughs, "surely you don't expect me to just _tell_ you? you, who came in here and shot two of my men, bringing me news that a few of my warehouses are seized, pointing a gun at my head and i'm supposed to give you the information that i spent months figuring out?"

mikasa lowers her gun slightly, "what do you want in return?"

"money of course, i'll have a hard time rebuilding what i've just lost."

"daring of you to assume you'll leave this place alive."

"then my lips are sealed."

mikasa glances over at 'angel' who chuckles dryly at her, "he wouldn't have told me for nothing either."

the ravenette weighs her choices in her head before ultimately lowering her gun fully to her side. 

"how much?"

kenny's smile widens as he realises he's caught the girl, "five,"

mikasa frowns, "hundred,"

"thousand." he enunciates slowly, relishing in the reaction of the girl who stood in front of him.

"i have men watching his every move, so you will get the most updated location whenever you have the money."

"fine," mikasa spits out, "but you don't get to touch him, he's mine to destroy," she says steely. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope everyone’s ready for a wild ride~


	9. the first lie

"hit me."

"what?" the blonde laughs at mikasa's request.

"this is the only time i'll willingly let someone strike me without retaliating," the girl states seriously, "hit me."

'angel' gives mikasa a weird look but gets up from the couch anyways, "alright, where? and how hard?"

"my face would be best, and hard enough to bruise in ten minutes."

kenny had already left, calling for someone to get rid of the two bodies on the floor. mikasa knew she needed a reasonable excuse as to why she had made zero arrests after being so confident about it, and it'd be best if no one found out about the underground ring. 'angel' cracks her knuckles and moves her diamond ring to her right hand, "you're sure, right?"

mikasa nods, closing her eyes and bracing herself for the impact.

the blonde girl draws her fist back, she swings at mikasa's face, using her whole body weight to drive her punch. mikasa reels from the hit and falls to the floor. her vision spins as she felt her cheek sting, the diamond probably cut her.

"it's not enough, and i don't have time. hit me like you would in the ring, angel, you know you want to."

the blonde lady smirks wickedly at mikasa's words, she couldn't count the number of times the other girl had beaten her to near death in the rings when they used to fight, almost two years ago. it wasn't a good memory of being humiliated by a girl younger than her, so mikasa bringing up the old days sparked a fuel in the blonde.

she chuckles, "you asked for it, mika."

;

mikasa stumbles out of the back door that 'angel' opened for her, clutching her side and mentally cursing the blonde hoping that she didn't break a rib.

her lips had been split and there was blood running down her chin, 'angel' had even strangled her for awhile, leaving mikasa short of breath and wheezing coughs.

she crosses the street, and falls to her knees just as levi's bike approaches the bend. she breathes a sigh of relief that she was just in time, and began to put on an act.

"mikasa! are you okay?" levi jumps off his bike and holds mikasa's shoulders, kneeling in front of the girl.

"l-levi, i'm sorry, t-there were more than i thought a-and kenny was here..." she stops to cough as more blood dribbles down her chin.

"shit, how badly are you injured?"

"i'm fine...but kenny ran away, i'm sorry i failed the mission, everything got _fucked_ up because i was too stubborn to listen to you."

"hey, hey, it's alright, don't blame yourself, lets get you to a hospital okay?" levi pulls out his phone and calls erwin, informing the older male about what had happened, one hand still on the girl's arm.

mikasa catches her breath, glancing in the direction of the club across the street. she'd have to side with kenny until she got what she needed, after that, she was throwing the bastard to the hands of levi end erwin.

"just hang on, erwin is coming. does it hurt a lot?" a pang of guilt hit mikasa as she hears the genuine concern in his voice.

she had deduced a few days ago that levi was someone who had lost the people who were precious to him, which became his motivation for always going out of his way to make sure no one puts themselves at risk, so the fact that she was here doing this to him, made her feel an immeasurable amount of guilt. well, assuming that he cares about her like that, which she thought he probably _doesn't_.

"no, i'm okay, i didn't break anything, we should just go home and i'll patch myself up."

" _no_ , you're injured, go see a doctor."

"but—"

"stop being so _fucking_ stubborn will you?"

mikasa looks away, as levi sighs, "i didn't mean it that way, i'm sorry, but i just want to make sure you're really fine."

"okay."

erwin pulls up behind levi's bike, opening the car door and running over, "is she okay?"

"she's splendid," levi replies sarcastically, "lets bring her to a hospital."

erwin goes back to his car and grabs a blanket from the back seat, coming back to pass it to levi who wrapped it around the injured girl.

"stand slowly," levi speaks softly, bringing his arm around the girl's waist to help her up. mikasa walks over to erwin's car with levi's help and got into the backseat. levi makes sure that the girl was comfortable in the car before stepping back and shutting the door.

"let's go."

erwin goes into the driver's seat and talks to mikasa, presumably to double check that she's okay before starting the engine and driving out of the road. levi looks toward the nightclub that he saw mikasa glance at while he was on the phone. he had half a mind to go in and have a look at what she was scowling at, but he supposed bringing the girl to the hospital would be more urgent.

levi gets back on his bike and replaces the helmet on his head, following after erwin's vehicle.

;

"she's fine, there's a bit of internal bleeding under her right rib cage, but nothing too serious. the strangulation marks will show up even darker over the next few days but it's just the bruising that's bound to form. the rest of the superficial injuries will heal over time, nothing to worry about. we've bandaged her up so she can discharge at anytime."

"thanks," erwin smiles at the doctor who bowed his head slightly before taking his leave.

the two guys enter the shared ward mikasa was in, levi glances at the two other people in the ward, one old lady coughing away and a middle aged man who looked sickly pale.

"you wanna go home?" erwin asks the girl.

levi scans mikasa from head to toe, the cut on her cheek that was just slightly below her barely visible scar was now covered by a white plaster, the area around it started to turn purple. the dried blood crusting and browning from the bust on her lip, slight purplish marks forming around her slim neck.

he could see where the thick bandage wrapped around her torso under her shirt, and saw the slight wince in her features as erwin helped her out of bed.

levi steps forward and grabs on to mikasa's hands as she slightly wobbles on her feet.

he looks at her knuckles which were surprisingly unharmed and only had old scars. he was puzzled as mikasa seems like the type who would strike her attacker twice as hard as she had received.

deciding not to think too much about it at the moment, he focused on helping the wounded girl out of the hospital while erwin went to fetch his car. by the time the three of them returned to the apartment, it was already well past midnight.

mikasa retires to the bedroom, giving no shits towards levi who was complaining about how she would dirty the bedsheets, and slams the door shut. levi slides the glass doors open and steps onto the balcony like he usually would.

sleep rarely welcomes levi and sometimes even if it does, he prefers staying awake than letting his dreams get the better of him. as he leans over the railing and looks at the streets below, his mind is brought back to tundor road where he had found mikasa.

there was no way that whatever she told them had happened could have happened, he concludes, mikasa was lying to them.

"it's quite warm for a spring night," the blonde male comes up beside levi and crosses his arm on the metal, resting his chin on his arms. erwin sighs. the faint sound of thumping bass traveled to their ears, music blasting from someone's car as they drove by.

"can't believe we almost got him, after months and months of chasing from town to town finally narrowing it down...only to have him slip away," erwin trails off, "and now we're back to nothing."

"at least now we know better than to underestimate him," levi starts, "who'd have thought that the places we found were just a small handful of what he's got."

"sorry levi, if only i'd listened to you and assigned mikasa backup."

levi just grunts at his friend's words, he recalls the man saying kenny's main office was actually at tundor road and wonders if mikasa simply made a mistake, or had known all along. _but what motivation would she have for wanting to face kenny alone?_ a chill runs down levi's spine as he realises that he didn't know mikasa at all.

he didn't know why she was lived where she did, or why she had a job at the strip club, or why she had even offered to help them catch kenny in the first place.

"did she use her gun?" he asks the blonde.

"yeah, two bullets, which is weird to assume she missed both...but..." he trails off.

"don't read so much into it, she was probably just shaken up by the number of people that were unexpectedly there."

erwin smirks and opens his mouth to make a stupid comment about levi defending his girlfriend.

"don't even try, _shitty eyebrows_." levi cuts him off. the blonde laughs as he returns back into the apartment, leaving the other rolling his eyes.

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in today's episode of "how many different adjectives does levi use?" we learn about the adj splendid which was used, in this case, sarcastically by levi ackerman.


	10. an eventful day

"what happened to your face!?" jean exclaims at lunch.

"that's not nice," sasha berates the boy, lightly smacking his arm.

"it's nothing, i just tripped is all."

"it's not like you to be so careless, mikasa," eren comments.

"yeah, you alright?" armin adds.

mikasa racks her brain for a reply, not wanting to worry eren and armin, or anyone of her friends.

"she was using my bathroom and the floor was wet so she slipped, it's not that serious." levi informs the rest.

"dry your bathroom floors often man, wet floors are dirty." jean scrunches up his face in levi's direction.

"my house is anything but dirty fuck-face," 

as jean prepared to argue back, petra struts up to the gang and places her tray between levi and sasha's. she smiles sweetly at the male while using her butt to push sasha off her seat, sliding into it naturally.

"hey!" sasha cries out from the floor, but was sadly ignored. she stands and takes the seat next to connie, muttering profanities under her breath as she mourned the spillage of her soup on the floor.

"hi levi, looking forward to practice later?"

"uh...yes?"

"you should! because the cheer team is practicing today as well~" she leans closer into levi.

"i'll see you there," she whispers seductively with a wink.

levi keeps the stony expression on his face, turning back to his food.

"so anyways," eren turns to annie, "i was thinking that for us to present the centripetal force we should swing a bucket of water around."

"that's centrifugal force..." annie deadpans.

"oh geez annie, you're partnering eren? you're gonna need a lot of patience to deal with it." armin comments, laughing at his friend.

"i wasn't aware of his brain capacity, i should have partnered jean." annie mutters, holding back a laugh at eren's appalled face.

"hey! i'm not that stupid," eren defends himself as the rest of the table bursts out in chuckles.

mikasa thanks the heavens for petra's unwelcomed arrival and the switch in topic. she pulls the red scarf higher towards her chin, hiding the purplish skin on her neck.

"how's you guys' project going?" connie asks levi.

"we uh, we were discussing at my place yesterday and thinking of using a pendulum swing, to showcase gravitational and tension force." levi explains, faltering for only a second.

"you have a pendulum at your place?!"

"i—"

"she was at your place?" petra spat, glaring at mikasa.

mikasa shot her own glare back at the strawberry blonde, a low growl emitting from her throat, "and what if i was?"

"you _absolute slut_ —"

mikasa slams her hands on the table and stands, leaning across the table and over petra with narrowed eyes, "what did you call me, you _bitch_?"

"okay calm down," marco raises his hands at the threatening tension between the two girls.

levi clears his throat awkwardly as eren holds mikasa's shoulders, guiding her to sit back down; sasha raises an eyebrow while annie rolls her eyes.

"whatever," petra finally says, standing up with her tray and leaving the table.

armin lets out the breath he was holding and jean pats levi's back twice.

"can we like, find someone to fill up that seat?" connie asks, pointing at the empty seat that petra was on.

"i was there in the first place but she pushed me off!" sasha exclaims indignantly.

mikasa puffs a stray piece of hair out of her face, her appetite leaving her, hopefully to chase after the strawberry blonde and punch her in the gut. conversations picked up amongst the rest of the gang, drifting between topics of games to food to who would get married first.

the bell goes off for the end of lunch period and the students stand to return to class.

"ugh, we've got mr hannes next," eren rolls his eyes in complaint.

"it's ms nanaba for us...shit, did mr mike say we're playing dodgeball or something for pe today?" jean asks connie.

"i think so?"

"yeah he did, that's why i didn't get the wednesday sushi wrap today, imagine getting a ball to the stomach and showing everyone your lunch." armin makes a face, sticking his tongue out as he did.

jean pales as the aftertaste of the curry rice he had haunts his tastebuds.

"horse face is gonna demonstrate what happens when you eat curry rice before playing dodgeball to the whole junior year!" eren yells out in a singsong voice, teasing the taller boy.

the gang laughs as jean shoves eren into the lockers they were walking past, the other students in the hall side-eyeing their weird behaviour.

"see you guys in two hours~" connie calls out as they parted ways to their classrooms.

as they enter the classroom for english period, mikasa notices nothing but the dirty stare petra and hitch were sending her way along with whispers of rumours and gossips. the dark haired girl pays no attention to the unimportant duo and trods to her seat, levi sending them a death glare in her place.

;

chatter fills the girl's changing room as all the students in their junior year got ready for pe class. mikasa approaches her locker quietly, sasha and annie standing near the wooden benches, already changed into their attire.

"i heard she got the wound on her face because of her abusive dad."

"what? i heard she was an orphan! that's why she's always with eren because his family took her in."

"then, maybe its an abusive boyfriend?"

whispers emerge as she makes her way past the other female students, groundless rumours that were started by the girls themselves.

"a boyfriend? mikasa?" petra scoffs from her locker, pulling up her shorts to her waist, "please, as if anyone would date that _psycho_."

mikasa, knowing that this was simply because the other wanted levi's attention, rolls her eyes at the childishness of it all. petra and the rest of her minions never targeted mikasa during their first two years, but she was unwillingly made into a victim simply because levi happened to be someone who caught her at her job.

but well, mikasa being mikasa, a bunch of high school girls were eons away from intimidating her.

petra stalks up to the girl, making snide remarks along the way, inciting giggles from her mindless followers. annie and sasha don a worried expression as they make their way to their friend who was beginning to look pissed.

the queen bee stands behind mikasa, pausing her insults to frown at the other's indifferent attitude.

"hey bitch, its common manners to look at someone when they're talking to you," petra reaches out and grabs the tail of mikasa's scarf.

in a flash, her body slams onto the bench, an involuntary cry escaping her lips as mikasa's hand wraps around her throat, the other on her shoulder, pushing it against the wood.

"talk all the shit you want but touch me again and i'll break your arms off, _got it?_ " mikasa threatens, hovering her face over petra's.

"how dare you..." petra trails off her sentence, eyes zeroing onto purplish marks the other's neck which could be seen since the scarf was loosened.

mikasa realises quickly and pulls the scarf up once again, releasing petra and getting off, but it was too late.

"did you guys _fuck_?" she shrieks loudly.

mikasa sends a puzzling look to the girl, not understanding where her brainless thoughts come from.

" _oh my god!_ " petra continues to sound like a banshee.

annie and sasha makes eye contact with each other before looking to mikasa for explanation, to which the dark haired girl just shakes her head.

petra storms out of the changing room and into the gym, where the students who were ready were waiting for mr mike to arrive. a crowd of girls follow after her, listening to her scream curse word after curse word while she stalks angrily toward an unsuspecting male.

"levi!"

"oh geez, calm down woma—"

"no! i will not calm down unless you tell me its not true!"

"what's she making a scene about?" eren whispers to levi who shrugs in response, looking almost equally as dumbfounded as the taller boy.

"wow, petra's gorgeous even when she's furious," a boy in class 3 comments to his friend.

"i wonder what the transfer did to make her so angry."

"levi is such a lucky bastard to have petra asking him to the dance, but wasn't mikasa with him yesterday?"

mikasa, annie and sasha enter the gym with the last of the students.

"say it, levi!" petra screeches, "say that you and her," she points an accusing finger at mikasa, "didn't have sex together!"

a collective gasp erupts from the rest of the juniors that would have been comical if not for the context. eren's eyes widen in shock as jean chokes on the air he just breathed.

levi and mikasa share a look that read 'how the fuck do we save this' before levi opens his mouth to respond, the rest of the gym silent in anticipation.

"it's...well, it's a personal answer that should be kept between us...since we are dating."

eren's jaw drops as jean yells a 'what the fuck', expressing out loud what mikasa was feeling inside. she blinks twice, her eyes never leaving levi's, as she processes what he just said.

"seriously?" annie asks incredulously, looking at mikasa with raised brows.

"uh," mikasa hesitates, receiving a look of 'just go with it' from the man of the topic, "yeah," she finally states.

"cool," was the response from the blonde.

mr mike enters the gym, apologising for being late, and thankfully putting an end to the never ending chatter about them.

;

"we're _dating_?" mikasa hisses.

it was the end of pe, mr mike's game of intense dodgeball had jean retching on the fields outside the gym, connie videoing the whole thing while marco pats his back.

mikasa shoots levi a look of "we need to talk now" before walking towards the school's swimming pool. levi approaches soon after, and was now pushed against the wall with mikasa's arm at his throat.

levi uses his own hands to try and resist the force she was applying, "yes, i didn't have any time to think."

mikasa huffs lowly as she let go, realising he was right.

"how long have we got to keep this up?"

"at least until we catch kenny and you'll be safe again in your own house," levi predicts.

"fine," she glares at the male, "but don't expect me to act like your..." she grimaces, " _girlfriend_."

"wouldn't even dream of it."

the pair start back towards the school building in an awkward silence, mikasa scolding herself for being careless and allowing this whole situation to happen.

"by the way," she starts, "i'm meeting someone tonight, i'll make my way home myself."

"who?" levi questions carefully.

"an old friend from my hometown." she replies curtly, ending the conversation and walking faster away.

levi frowns quietly but decides to trust her this once.

;

"ladies and gentlemen! please welcome back the 'red queen'!" the blonde girl announces in the ring with a megaphone.

she waves a hand in the direction where mikasa stands at the corner, wearing her old red mask, the cheers roaring the raven-haired's alias.

"and against the 'red queen' tonight we have an old favourite: the 'burning flame'!"

said 'burning flame' was a man approaching his thirties, stocky in build and arming himself with spiked gloves. the man has been a fighter for three years, being beaten less than twenty times in those days.

'angel' smirks under the glare of the spotlights, "let the fight begin!"

the blonde hops out of the makeshift ring and into the sea of people below as 'burning flame' steps towards mikasa and swings his fist.

mikasa dodges skillfully and zips her butterfly knife upwards, aiming for the man's face. the man avoids it quickly enough, but loses his balance in the process, stumbling backwards.

the girl takes advantage of the moment and closes the gap between them in a flash, curving her arm and switching her grip on the knife, she aims for his face again.

the man manages to block her from blinding him, but sacrifices his sleeveless arm in the process, yelping as the knife opens a gash in his forearm.

he hops backwards, clutching the wound that was now dripping fresh blood onto the previously stained wooden floors.

mikasa follows, boots tapping lightly on the boards as she lunges forward, swinging the knife at his abdomen. the man throws himself backwards, and narrowly avoids having his intestines spill out.

the 'burning flame'hardens his gaze as mikasa pulls back, changing her grip again. he drops the grip on his wound and clenches his fist again.

"do you know how dangerous this is, girl? one good hit to your face and it could puncture your skull," he threatens her over the sounds of the crowd.

mikasa smirks under the mask, but the gloating tone in her voice could not be missed, "too bad you'll be dead before you can land _one_ good hit."

-


	11. a series of doubts

mikasa emerges from the washroom and steps into the office after cleaning herself.

"the crowd wasn't expecting you to win any of your fights after being away for so long, but since you did, the profits from tonight are good."

the raven-haired girl sinks into the couch, looking at the cash that 'angel' stacks neatly on the table.

"not bad at all, mika, $8,000 in a night."

mikasa tsks in annoyance, "not even one-fifth..."

"it takes time, lose your next match and get people to bet against you, then win again and rake in the money." 'angel' strategises. the blonde lights her cigarette and leans back into the couch; she takes a puff as they fall into silence.

"how's the new job?"

"it led me to shooting kenny in the shoulder, what do you think?"

'angel' laughs aloud before she takes a swig of her can of beer. the wall clock hanging on the dirty walls of the office ticking 2:36 in the morning.

mikasa had fought in three fights, winning them with ease against the predictions of the crowd. the name 'red queen' had disappeared from the fights for five months, mikasa leaving the underground scene for a job with better pay as recommended by 'angel'.

but here she is all over again, since fate has a dramatic way of controlling the direction of her days.

"i should be going, you'll safe keep the money right?"

"of course," the blonde chuckles, "i have as big of a grudge against rod reiss as you do."

mikasa grunts in reply as she rises from the couch, 'angel' follows and they both leave the office.

;

the electronic lock beeping twice echoes loudly through the night. mikasa braces herself as she enters the dark apartment.

levi turns his head her way as she walks into the living room. he rests against the cool leather of the couch, a warm mug of black tea clasp in his hands.

"had a good catch up with your friend?"

"yeah," she nods and walks towards levi's room. as the bedroom door closes softly, the frown returns to the male's face as he recalls the old grungy car that he witnessed dropping mikasa off.

he gets off the couch and heads back out to his original position on the balcony, the night breeze tugging at his loose long sleeve and tousling his hair.

levi sips his tea and sighs; he wonders what the girl had been up to.

;

thursday comes and goes, with the dating news spreading around paradis high like wild fire. petra and her following continue to cast dirty glares mikasa's way, but were afraid of getting physically involved with the girl after being threatened.

on friday night, mikasa utters a sentence that baffles both erwin and levi, "i'm going to stay with my friend, thank you for your hospitality thus far."

"what do you mean?"

levi swallows his dinner as he waits impatiently for her to reply erwin's query.

"i reconnected with an old friend recently and she has space at her place. as grateful as i am, i can't continue to impose like this."

"are you sure? kenny's still at large and—"

"it's fine," mikasa cuts erwin off.

levi narrows his eyes at her, "i can take care of myself," she continues.

erwin glances at levi's usually stoic face to see that he now wears a briefly concerned expression. he opens his mouth again to try and convince the girl to stay, but levi beat him to it; "sure."

the blonde man raises his thick eyebrows at his friend's easy agreement.

silence blankets the table as the trio went back to their meal, a braised beef stew that the oldest had whipped up.

"if you ever need any help, just let us know, okay?"

mikasa smiles gently in response at erwin. he had been nothing but kind and trusting to her, as much as she didn't want to deceive him, she doesn't really have a choice.

the next day, mikasa collects her little amount of belongings and bids the two farewell. levi watches from the balcony as the girl who had been inhibiting his room for the past week leaves in the same grungy car as wednesday night. he returns to his room after the vehicle speeds away, stepping into an abnormal familiarity as he takes in the messy bedsheets, open curtains, the towel hanging over the back of his desk chair and overall the _scent_ of the girl who just left.

levi runs his hand through his dark hair and sighs, pulling the towel off and muttering several curse words. he goes to sit on the edge of the bed and falls back into the sheets, bringing his free arm to shield his eyes from the early afternoon sun shining into the room.

the male frowns as he sits up, arms supporting his weight behind him, mikasa was up to _something_ and he was going to find out what.

;

the room lights up slowly as dawn breaks and the sun rises up above the small town. the chirping sounds that were much too loud travels through the open window as the general public continue sleeping into their sunday morning.

mikasa locks the door behind her and flumps herself down onto the single mattress in the corner of the room, there she drifts off into a light, dreamless sleep.

she wakes not even two hours later, the light of day flooding in through her curtain-less window and glaring off the unpainted cement walls. the aching in her muscles throb dully, a result of 'losing' to most of her opponents last night.

her phone sounds the arrival of a text message and she lifts it up to her face to view it.

**blonde bitch**

_i managed to get some bets against you tonight_

mikasa muffles her own groans as she pulls her weary body up so she could rid herself of her grimed clothes and shower.

after she feels decently clean, she drops back onto her bed and closes her eyes, wishing for sleep to lull her into its embrace.

her phone begins to ring.

"god fucking damn—hello?"

_"hey, do you have time today?"_

her eyelids shoot open and she sits up fully at the sound of levi's voice.

"...why?"

_"we have to do that physics project."_

"oh...right, i'm free in the afternoon. i'll meet you at your place?"

_"sure, i'll go pick you up. what's your address?"_

mikasa panics internally, "it's fine, i'll take the bus."

levi hesitates before agreeing, not liking what he begins to suspect.

it was two in the afternoon when the front door unlocks and mikasa invites herself in, clad in an oversized sweater and dark sweatpants.

"hi?" she calls out into the seemingly empty house.

she walks further in and hears sounds of running water coming from the bathroom, probably levi taking his second shower of the day. she relaxes on the sofa as she waits, her eyes taking a glimpse of the documents that lay on the coffee table.

a photo of a middle aged man with dark hair and slightly blueish eyes catches her attention and her body tenses, eyes hardening their steely gray.

"oh, you're here?" levi's voice sounds out as he approaches the living room, clad in a white t-shirt and gray joggers.

mikasa looks up and her eyes drink in his appearance, lingering on his damp hair and the way his shirt hung on his physique, outlining against his chest and his prominent collarbones.

levi raises an eyebrow as the girl quickly avoids his gaze and instead trains her eyes on the documents he was reading and left while he showered.

"who's that?" she asks nonchalantly.

"rod reiss, a wanted serial killer." levi answers, wondering if she knew the man in question. but mikasa wore her facade coolly and shrugs, "never heard of him."

levi gathers the papers and tucks them under the table, setting his thoughts aside he starts, "so what do we do about that project," he sits, "pendulum?"

;

'angel' pulls up in front of the apartment complex where mikasa waits with the company of levi.

"this is your old friend?" levi bends down slightly as he walks over and tries to peer through the tinted windows.

mikasa grabs him by the shoulder and straightens his body swiftly, "yes, but she hates being looked at because, well, of the scar on her face so you shouldn't do that, ever."

"my apologies..." he looks at her, waiting expectantly.

"her name's maria," mikasa lets go of levi.

"right, my apologies to maria," he steps back from the car.

"i'll see you at school," mikasa says curtly, opening the car door and getting in, "bye."

levi silently waves the car off, watching as it turns onto the main road and disappears from sight.

"it's so rare to see you interacting nicely with people who aren't eren or armin," ‘angel' comments with a tinkling laugh, "is he your boyfriend?"

mikasa scoffs, "don't be _daft_ , that's impossible."

"if you say so," the blonde hums.

the car makes its way to tundor road as mikasa mentally preps herself for another sleepless night, full of blood spill while making money for a drug lord.

-


	12. a dirty fight

"...i...yield..."

"oh, come on!" a few in the crowd yells, enraged as mikasa coughs out her words.

"the 'red queen' yields, victory goes to 'light'!" the blonde announces over the roaring horde.

mikasa continues struggling to pry off the man's hands which he pushes hard into her chest and neck as he straddles her, causing the immense pain to wave through her body.

'light' continues, heeding the cries of the certain few egging him on to finish the girl off for good.

"i said...i fucking yield!" mikasa grunts out, locking her feet around his calves and flipping him off her and onto the floor.

she has her knife pressing against his throat in the next second, "let go of me when i ask you to do so _nicely_ , otherwise i'll be forced to slit your throat."

mikasa rises from the floor, swinging herself over the metal bars and leaving the ring, the crowd booing her as she enters the office.

the door opens and 'angel' follows after her, "that was great! now there's sure to be even more bets against you in your next fight!"

the dark-haired girl takes a swig of water, her chest aching with every breath she takes, lungs burning and blood roaring in her ears.

"great? i almost died."

"well, now you know what it feels to be on the losing end and on the verge of being killed by your opponent." 'angel' smiles wickedly, a flood of unpleasant memories invading her head, her scar involuntarily tingled at her thoughts.

"they were all asking for it," mikasa retorts.

"you'll go again after 'light' offs that stupid old man."

"i don't want to fight in a bloody ring, get someone to clean up after." mikasa complains, flopping onto the couch and causing a waft of cigarette smells to emerge from it.

'angel' flips her attitude and narrows her eyes, growling, "watch it, you're not some special snowflake, stop acting like one."

mikasa snaps her eyes up and glares at the blonde, but chooses to change the topic to one of more importance, "the npd are after rod reiss, we need to get him before they lock him away."

"kenny dropped by lately, that bastard's going to ask for more money if he finds out we're desperate so this will have to stay secret."

"right..."

ruckus erupts from the the other side of the door, the constant chanting of 'light's name revealing the obvious winner of the fight.

the two girls leave the office, mikasa putting on the mask that covers her face and prevents her from being recognised on the streets. the door opens to a gruesome sight, 'light' pumping his fist in time with the cheers and a man lying still on the floor in a pool of what could only be his own blood.

'angel' heaves herself into the ring and closes two fingers around the man's wrist, the expression that crosses her face confirms to the masses that he was indeed, dead.

"victory goes to 'light' once again!"

'angel' signals for some burly men to remove the body, the fresh blood seeping into the floor of the makeshift ring.

"next up, the 'red queen' versus—"

"me," a thick voice cuts the blonde's sentence.

"'light'? but she's queued with..."

'angel' trails off and observes the crowd, all of them hollering for the man to make his second kill of the night, she exchanges a look with mikasa through the mask and grins.

"then, can i get everyone to place their bets for the next fight?"

the people swarm to the improvised counter where clear boxes sat, the left container filling up with dollar bills while the right remains empty.

mikasa climbs into the ring and faces 'light' who was exuding an unimaginable amount of confidence.

"tonight's the night i add two crosses to my collection," the man starts to say, gesturing to his tattooed arm, "how exciting."

"the way you mark your kills goes to prove how weak you actually are," mikasa taunts, "only a coward will resort to boasting as a form of threat."

the man grits his teeth and punches his clenched fists together, determined to obliterate the younger girl, "you yielded to me just half an hour ago, girlie, i wouldn't be so arrogant."

mikasa slides her foot back, shifting her weight and preparing to strike.

"begin!"

the footsteps of 'light' pound against the floor as he takes three quick steps, closing their distance in a second.

mikasa ducks and narrowly avoids a fist to her face, bringing her knife up and drawing it against the torso of the man, putting a deep scratch on the material of his bulletproof vest.

the man treads back and drops to the ground, kicking out his legs to catch mikasa underneath her guard.

the girl gets knocked off her feet as the unexpected move catches her, but she plants her hands beside her head and flips back onto her feet with ease, already moving towards 'light'.

the fight carries for another fifteen minutes, both parties exchanging multiple blows, it was still unclear who holds the upper hand.

the man takes a step back but leans forward and throws out his fist, aiming to land a right cross to mikasa's side. with that one move, mikasa closes in on victory.

she ducks left, a brief look of horror flashes on the man's face as he watches mikasa disappear from his line of sight.

he spins around just in time for a foot to connect with the side of his face and 'light' falls onto the ground, grunting in pain as mikasa's knees digs into his shoulder blades, pinning him down effectively.

cool metal rests against the side of his neck, pressing slightly and causing a thin line of red to form.

"...just kill me already," he sputters.

"you will live with the humiliation of defeat," mikasa brings her hand to the top of his face mask, "and with the risk you took when you killed without thought."

the man's eyes widens, "no! please! don't do this!"

she pulls off his spandex mask, revealing his features to the crowd of people congregating around to behold his identity.

dark blonde tresses messily framed the, surprisingly young, man's face with his jade green eyes and full lips. digital sounds of camera shutters echoes in the surroundings of them both, 'light' desperately trying to shy away from his oncoming consequences.

"the 'red queen' wins!"

mikasa leans down to whisper into his ear, "good luck trying to stay alive."

she straightens up and gets off the man, she leaves, walking through the still jeering crowd and back towards the office.

'angel' enters after starting the next fight, a briefcase in her clutches.

"you won't believe this!" she tosses the briefcase at mikasa who catches it with both hands, only for it to dip down and cause her body to lunge forward with its weight.

"how much is in here?" mikasa inquires, genuinely surprised.

"twelve thousand dollars! it's insane, but i guess we do have quite a big crowd today and it was absolutely zero for you."

mikasa drops the briefcase on the table and lets herself sink into the couch. she was now closer to paying back everything she received ten years ago.

"i suggest we call off your next fight, since people will be expecting you to win, the profits won't amount to much."

"no, it would be better for me to lose tonight and tomorrow as well, so they will think this was just a lucky streak," she pauses, "then we rake in everything on tuesday."

'angel' grins widely as she bobs her head slowly, a sign of agreement to the other's plan.

;

levi stares hard at the back of her head which nods forward every few seconds. it takes a no-brainer to realise mikasa was falling asleep in class, and to levi who sat right behind her, it was all he could notice.

the girl's head finally lands softly on her desk, allowing herself to succumb to the drowsiness. right before mr hannes could notice, levi sends a hard kick to the back of her chair, causing the girl to jump to her feet, surprising everyone in class.

"did you need something...er ackerman?"

"uhm...no, sorry..." mikasa sinks back down, her cheeks reddening in embarrassment.

when mr hannes resumes to talk about the civil war in japan, mikasa whips her head around and whispers harshly, "what the fuck was that for?"

"i thought i was helping you out," levi shrugs, finding it amusing to see the usually stoic girl have such a reaction.

mikasa rolls her eyes, now fully awake, as she turns back around to pay attention to the class.

levi lets the soft smile spread on his lips, enjoying the moment much more than he's willing to admit.

at lunch, the duo who had gotten their food quicker takes their seats at the table, waiting for the rest to arrive before they dig in.

"you alright?" the male asks, "you're weird today."

"i'm just wonderful." mikasa deadpans dryly.

"ugh, i hope erwin didn't rub his vocabulary-spitting tendencies off on you, it's going to annoy me fast."

"duly noted, your words will be essential when i celebrate 'irritate levi to his deathbed day' which is coming up soon."

levi scoffs loudly while his lips twitch upwards as mikasa chuckles, wanting to actually dedicate a full day to exasperating levi to his wits' end.

"aren't you two lovebirds so sweet," connie remarks, approaching the table with jean and marco in tow.

as jean holds back a gag at his words and mikasa swears at connie, levi couldn't help but regain his grim expression at her sickly appearance. the dark circles beginning to form, chapped lips and bruises that mikasa hides under her long sleeved cardigan raises too many red flags in his head.

levi remains quiet throughout their lunch period as he ponders a way to broach the subject with the rather mysterious girl.

-


	13. an unpleasant meeting

the clock reads nine forty-one in the evening on tuesday as levi paces slowly in his bedroom, his phone in his hands with the screen unlocked.

-

**eren jaeger**

are u with mikasa?

why do you ask

**eren jaeger**

i can't get a hold of her

if she's with u then it makes sense i guess

i won't disturb u guys bye

-

levi grits his teeth as he dials mikasa's number for the third time. when the line transfers to voicemail yet again, he strides out of his room, bike keys already in hand.

he stops by the strip club mikasa used to work at, he circles the town's plaza and circles the streets. the gnawing in his gut grows as the minutes tick by, he's not entirely sure what he's worrying about, but judging from just the three weeks that he's known her, mikasa was pretty damn reckless and that's often not a good trait.

a brief memory flashes through his mind and he revs the engine, racing up the roads and riding towards tundor road.

levi confirms his suspicions as he spots maria's car parked in the corner.

he kills the engine and gets off the bike, the pounding bass of the booming music coming from the various clubs reverberates up his shoes and through his body.

he enters the discotheque, the smell of liquors invading his nose as he squeezes through the throng of bodies. levi's not entirely sure what he's looking for, his eyes roam around the interior of the building, judging the poor use of rainbow lights and the size of the tiny bar.

he sighs, wondering if it was another fruitless attempt.

"a whiskey neat," levi orders as he raises a finger at the bartender.

**important note: do NOT drink and drive my friends it puts you as well as everyone on the roads with you at risk!!! bad levi!!!**

the bartender sets the lowball glass with his drink down on the counter top, levi thanks him and makes payment accordingly. as he was ready to leave the nightclub for good, two men who were shuffling past bumps into him and without apologising or even looking in levi's direction, they carried on their conversation.

"i wanna _kill_ that bitch, dude, she wins when we expect her to lose and she loses when we expect her to win."

"she's probably working with 'angel' to suck our money dry, i mean how else can this place continue running without the police finding out."

levi continues to sit at the bar, taking in the full discussion the two men were having.

they finish their drinks and leave the bar, levi watches as they make their way the the very back, and disappear behind the dj podium.

he follows their tracks and finds a dark and narrow staircase, he takes a deep breath and starts down them. but the sight he comes to face with as he opens the door is one he could have never expected.

the sight of a familiar figure standing over the unmoving body of a woman, flecks of blood staining her skin. as the girl flips her butterfly knife closed in one smooth motion, the unmistakable scar on her palm was one of the many things that made levi's heart drop in sheer horror.

;

the way levi kept his sentences short throughout the day was strange to mikasa. although he was a man of little words, the both of them could usually hold a conversation that amounted to more than four sentences. she pushes the unwanted thoughts out of her head as she replaces the mask on her face, getting ready for another night of violence.

it's wednesday night, mikasa stands once again in the ring encircled by hundreds who enjoy watching bloodshed.

"i thought you ran off crying after i marked you up, didn't expect you to be back for more."

mikasa hardens her glare behind her mask, "the scar you gave serves nothing but a reminder of your pathetic defeat."

said opponent of mikasa traces his fingers over his chest, feeling a dull throbbing of the now-healed wound where she plunged his own blade into him.

'angel' leaves mikasa to the violence, wading through the lesser-than-expected crowd and approaching the counter that was guarded by three of her men.

clicking her tongue at the slow progress of the fight, she asks, "any increase?"

"no ma'am, bets against her still max at five."

the blonde tuts, glancing at the clear containers, "huh? someone placed bets _on_ her?" she notes the singular bill that sits at the bottom of the right box.

"yeah, some dude."

"isn't that nice," she pauses as noise erupts, a reaction from the audience to the two fighters slashing at each other.

her mind races, realising the increasing difficulty of winning money through mikasa by herself. kenny could get impatient and withdraw his offer, then the two girls will be thrown back to hunting rod reiss by themselves, a feat that proves to be rather tough.

levi doesn't know what to feel as he watches the girl. a loud clang resonates above the shouts of the hoard as mikasa's knife drew sparks against the man's dagger.

he supposes, as her friend, he should be cheering her on along with the dozens of other strangers yelling incoherent words at them. but as an affiliate to the police force, every second he spends standing here and not notifying erwin of it claws at his conscience. 

levi thinks back to the last night, after the scene he had witnessed, he had turned on his heel and left. desperately trying to convince himself that he had just stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time, or that he was drunk out of his mind, maybe someone had put hallucinogens in his drink and he was simply seeing things.

he had spent the day debating between doing what was morally right, and doing what his heart and mind was telling him to do. as he stands in the corner of the shitty underground space, watching mikasa and some unknown _fucker_ trying to kill each other, he knows doing the moral thing was never a choice he could have made.

"are you mika's friend?"

he shifts his attention to the blonde standing next to him. the way she addresses mikasa by her nickname, which he's only heard eren using, as well as the prominent scar that ran from her temple down to her jaw, suggests that this girl could be the old friend the said girl is staying with.

"mika? then i suppose you're maria?"

the girl quirks an eyebrow in amusement, laughing slightly, "is that what she said my name was?"

levi frowns, here stands a girl who recognised him easily amongst the crowd and yet he doesn't even know her real name or if she was even a friend as mikasa said. he wonders what other lies he's been fed, although, at this point he's mentally ready for the girl to admit she's never even told a single truth.

"no matter," the blonde flips her ponytail off her shoulder, "if you're here to show support then instead of raising her odds, you should bet against her so she makes more."

levi runs her sentence through his brain over and over again processing her words, while doing so his eyes subconsciously trail over the disfigurement on the girl's otherwise flawless face.

"she was the one who did this, just so you know," 'angel' remarks, catching his eyes before walking away.

he assumes she's referring to mikasa, but after what he saw last night, it isn't a big surprise to find out about her violent tendencies.

a loud grunt grabs his attention as his eyes jerk back to the ring. the man holds mikasa in a headlock, his legs wrapped around her torso to stop her thrashing, his free arm reaching out for his dagger which lay a distance away, previously knocked from his grip.

levi's body was already moving before he could fathom, driving himself through the crowd.

just as he stumbles to the very front of the crowd, mikasa manages to shimmy her torso up and plant her feet on the ground. she lifts her hips and slams them back down, impacting the man's stomach and knocking the wind out of him. he coughs and was momentarily distracted, enough for mikasa to fully twist herself out of his grip, lunging for the nearest blade.

there was a yell as the stainless steel pierced flesh and bones. mikasa slumps on her knees, catching her breath while the man writhes on the floor the dagger sticking out from his stomach.

levi lets out a breath he was holding as he watches mikasa narrowly escape getting severely injured or worse. before he could move away from the front, he makes eye contact with the girl. he briefly catches her body tensing as he gulps, wondering if the girl would be angry at him or try and run away.

surprisingly, mikasa just sighs and leaves the ring, not looking back at levi.

levi stares after her, dread begins pooling in his stomach as he wonders if their relationship would ever be the same.

-


	14. a fight between the ackermans

the rest of the gang douse themselves in awkward silence as they sit for lunch.

eren and annie exchange a glance as armin laughs off beat. marco decides to stay out of it and consume his food quietly.

levi and mikasa take the seats furthest away from each other. they barely spoke and palpable tension hangs in the air and makes everyone's breath still, the animosity between them could not be missed.

"so uhm mikasa," eren starts, "how is you guys' project coming along?"

"fine." levi answers instead, "mikasa spends a lot of time on it, which is why she looks like she hasn't slept for ten years."

mikasa scoffs, "levi has also been _obsessed_ and verifying every detail even though he didn't need to."

"i assumed since it is our project, i should care more about it instead of having it run wild."

" _run wild?_ " mikasa slams her palms on the table and stands, glaring at the offending male.

eren grabs onto mikasa's shoulder in a feeble attempt to calm her down and get her to sit back down. levi matches her with an unwavering glare of his own. they seethe for a moment, neither side willing to back down from the sudden staring contest.

"though i suppose this project is rather fitting for mikasa seeing as how she consistently swings from being decent to an absolute _brat_ ," levi quips at her and stands, tray in hand, "i'll see you guys in class."

"well, that was really something." jean comments offhandedly, raising an eyebrow as he does.

”trouble in paradise already~” petra smirks to her followers as she watches levi storm out the cafeteria, it won’t be long until she had him.

;

nightfall arrives and once again levi found himself in the god forsaken club approaching the stairwell that would lead him to a place he really did not feel like going to.

he enters, and the seemingly familiar noise envelopes him fully. levi casts a sweeping gaze into the mass of people who were here, looking for a specific girl. finally he spots her unique appearance and makes his way over to her.

"'angel',"

the blonde swishes her ponytail as she turns her head around.

"levi?"

he sighs, contemplating if he should seriously be doing this, "how do i join a fight?"

'angel''s lips curve into a wicked grin, "who are you interested in fighting with?"

levi turns to look at the ring where she was, mid-fight with another opponent, "her."

;

mikasa buries her face into the towel, letting it absorb all the sweat she build up while fighting some dude who calls himself 'king arthur'. she huffs a sigh as she leans back into the couch.

the door opens momentarily and a wave of shouts enters the room together with the blonde, "i have your next fight," she announces to mikasa.

mikasa holds back a groan as her aching body protests against the idea of having to move again. she had been fighting for almost a week straight, without proper sleep or rest in between fights and school, she feels ready to pass out right there and then.

"he has a rather special condition, this man," 'angel' smirks, "he says if he wins you have to go home with him."

"ugh, what a creep," mikasa rolls her eyes as she pulls the towel off her face, "i bet he's some forty year old man who's just horny, and will probably wet himself when i punch him in the face."

"wow, i'll be excited to see that happen, and you can bet people will love you a lot more if you do that."

"fine, i'll do one last one for the night."

"he's waiting for you in the ring."

mikasa tosses the towel aside and swings the office door open, she holds her gaze as far away from her opponent as possible, not wanting to give the pedophile the pleasure of having eye contact.

she swings herself into the ring, still keeping her eyes on the distant floor.

"this is going to be the 'red queen''s last fight of the day, against a new opponent, 'corporal'."

mikasa scoffs as she hears his name, to think that this creep was pretentious too, she couldn't wait to kick him in his manhood and take him out for good.

"ready!"

she finally lifts her gaze and starts to scan her opponent from the feet up. the man wore simple black boots that were neatly laced, dark gray cargo pants that has a white shirt tucked into it, and a black tactical vest over his top. the creep was of a smaller build than she expected, but when she eventually meets his dark gray eyes, her breathing stills and her heart pounds in her ears.

"fight!"

levi flies towards her in a second and mikasa notices quick enough the leg that soars towards her chest. she throws her body out of the way and drops to the floor, rolling and kicking out towards levi's stationary foot. levi recovers from his missed kick and avoids mikasa's move, giving her time to stand back up and put a small distance between them that he closes almost immediately, lowering his body and swinging out his fist to catch her in the abdomen.

he lands his punch and mikasa coughs, keeping a tight grip on his vest, she raises her knee hard and fast, making contact with levi's ribs. mikasa continues to knee him as hard as she could, but levi grabs her by the shoulders and pushes her away from his body, narrowly avoiding a knee to his face.

they exchange blows continuously, both sides not willing to slow down for the other. mikasa blocks an incoming punch with her forearms and winces at the burning pain that scorches through her arms. levi notices.

he swings his leg, mikasa blocks it with her arms, levi spins around swings again, this time with more speed and strength and it dislodges her block and disorientates mikasa for a second. in that second, levi has her pinned to the floor with her arms above her head, breathing heavily from the exchange.

levi keeps his eyes on mikasa as she pants, her chest rising up and down in a sporadic pattern, her cheeks flush from the adrenaline and her lips red from the quick blood circulation in her body. he could also feel her trembling slightly beneath him, possibly from the fatigue her body was experiencing.

"the 'corporal' wins!" 'angel' announces.

"and now, as per my conditions, you have to go home with me."

mikasa groans from her position on the floor.

-


	15. two injured ackermans

the ride home in erwin's car he borrowed suffocates in dead silence.

levi keeps his eyes on the road as he literally feels mikasa bubbling with rage next to him.

he parks the car in erwin's usual spot and kills the engine, amplifying the cold silence in the vehicle. he clears his throat and opens his mouth to form a sentence. before levi could even make a sound, mikasa throws the car door open and got out.

he sighs as the door slams shut, and she trudges towards the elevator. he grabs his bag from the backseat and follows, the car beeps as he locks it behind him. mikasa apparently didn't bother to wait as he watches the numbers change and stop at his floor. by the time levi unlocks his front door, mikasa was nowhere to be seen. he could hear the shower running as he passes by to get to erwin's office.

levi raps on the ajar door and pokes his head in to find erwin at his desk, hunching over some papers with a mug of coffee at his side.

"i let her in." the blonde man states simply.

"she made herself at home quick, didn't she?" levi adds sarcastically.

he closes erwin's door, not wanting to disturb the man further.

mikasa paces out of the bathroom and stomps by levi without a word, she enters his bedroom and shuts the door with a not-so-loud bang. levi huffs a smile at the thought of the girl acting like a kid throwing a tantrum when she didn't get what she wanted.

he opens the door to his bedroom slowly and finds mikasa already under the covers, facing the wall and curling away from everything. levi walks over to his bed and sits himself at the very edge, not wanting to dirty the sheets. he had changed his top after their fight but not his pants, it was still filthy but there was something he needed to do.

"here," he calls softly, tossing out a few wads of cash by her feet.

she lifts her head to look, her eyes widening an inch before she remembers she's supposedly angry at him, and plops her head back down.

"i don't know what you need all this money for, but i'll help you get it. you need to rest, brat, otherwise you'll be a dead body."

mikasa gave no reply.

"you're not injured anywhere, right?" levi asks.

silence.

"i'll see you tomorrow then."

levi's hand rests on the handle when he finally heard her voice asking, "why?"

the male shrugs, looking towards her, "just thought i could help."

;

mikasa stumbles into the bathroom the next morning to prepare for school. she groans quietly at her disheveled appearance in the mirror and runs the tap. after brushing her teeth and doing her morning business, she walks into the kitchen for breakfast.

she catches levi's eyes following her as she moves about getting coffee and toast and wonders if maybe her shirt was inside out or something. she dresses in one of his plain white t-shirts and navy sweatpants as she had packed all her stuff away.

but other than wearing his clothes, she thought she looks pretty normal, so she asks, "what?" not meaning to sound as irritated as it came out.

levi sighs, "do you want to take the day off from school?"

mikasa raises an eyebrow quizzically, "why would i?"

"you look like shit."

mikasa scowls and looks at herself again, this time noticing the bruises forming on her skin and some ugly marks her opponents have left.

"it's fine, the uniform has long sleeves anyway."

"no, you look tired, don't you want to go back to sleep?"

she settles her plate on the counter and begins to eat.

"eren will suspect something if i'm miss school for no reason," she chews.

"just tell him you're sick,"

"he's going to want to visit then."

"tell him you're contagious,"

"he doesn't care."

"say you're on your period,"

"he'll come with chocolates and tea like the sweet boy he is."

levi makes a disgusted face at her words, "the _sweet boy_?" he scoffs.

mikasa glares at him, "at least he's never told me i look like shit."

"not to your face," levi retorts.

"well, aren't you a sunshine to be around in the morning," erwin makes an appearance in the kitchen, "don't listen to him mikasa, he's always a sour butt."

levi places his mug on the table with a loud thud, "shitty eyebrows," he starts.

erwin chuckles at the name and leans towards mikasa in a mock whisper, "and he only calls me that when he knows i'm right."

mikasa allows a smile to creep on her face as levi simply glares, "maybe you should come up with a name for him too."

"oh that's a great idea! how about..." erwin pretends to think with a finger under his chin.

"don't."

" _shorty_?"

mikasa snorts a laugh as erwin beams a sickening smile at levi.

"i hate you both." levi growls as he leaves his chair, walking to his bedroom to presumably get changed. erwin and mikasa burst into laughter at his actions.

"oh my god," mikasa catches a breath, "his face when you said that!" she chuckles again.

the giggling ceases after awhile but the smile stays on mikasa's face, thoroughly enjoying poking fun at levi, treating it as revenge for all the times he pissed her off. levi trudges back into the kitchen and scowls, "wipe that shitty smile off your face, or else," he threatens.

"or else what? what are you gonna do, _shorty_?" mikasa smothers a rising fit of giggles.

"didn't need to be that tall to kick your ass last night." levi states matter-of-factly. the laughter bubbling in mikasa subsides instantly as she glares at the male.

it was now levi's turn to suppress a laugh as erwin whistles lowly. "low blow, dude."

"whatever," mikasa mutters, "my uniform isn't with me, we have to get it before school starts—"

"you're staying home today," levi cuts her off, "i made my decision while you were busy insulting me."

"but—"

"don't bother fighting us on this mikasa, i agree with levi, you need rest. your body hasn't had any chance to recover at all."

"wait, you know?"

erwin gives a defeated smile, "i don't. the only thing i know is that you got into some trouble and needed our help. that's all levi was willing to tell me."

"you'll have a field day when i tell you the details, but for now, patience my old man."

"was that an attempt at a jab?"

levi simply rolls his eyes, "i'll be heading to school now. you stay here and don't make a mess, otherwise you're dead." mikasa imitates levi with a comical expression, pouting her lips and rolling her eyes, erwin cracks a laugh at her antics as levi whips his head around to glare again.

"by the way, i won't be home for dinner, don't wait up."

at his words, the other two were visibly confused. erwin just shrugs when he catches mikasa's questioning eyebrow, not fully aware of levi's plans himself. mikasa is left alone in the kitchen as erwin makes his way to his office with a mug of coffee. when she hears the soft thud of the door close, she finally lets her façade go and winces slightly as she takes a breath.

she couldn't remember which fight it was that some fucker had kneed her in the rib cage so hard it had hurt badly to even take shallow breaths. she lifts the shirt slightly to observe the deep purple bruising that started to show yellowish spots. when she gently brushes her hand against her body, there was a worrying dent in the middle of the bruise.

it wasn't too deep so she suspects that she hadn't broken any ribs, but it was significant enough to not just be her mind playing tricks on her. mikasa decides to dig for the first aid kit that she only saw levi retrieve once, but even though she manages to find it,there weren't any bandages or creams that would help her. just some pain relieving ointment for muscle aches and a row of painkillers.

she sighs and slathers on the ointment anyways before retreating back to levi's room with a glass of water and the pain killers.

;

"hey," mikasa flutters her eyes open to see levi standing over her. she looks out the window to find that it was already late in the evening, she had slept the whole day.

levi holds up a plastic bag and mikasa squints at it to figure out it was bandages and probably other items she needs as well. too stubborn to admit she was hurt, she simply huffs and shuts her eyes again, "i'm not even injured that badly."

levi rolls his eyes at the expected answer from the girl, "yeah but i am, i need some help here."

mikasa opens her eyes again to look at levi properly this time, she takes in his ruffled hair and slightly disheveled appearance, notably how he had some open wounds on his forearms and a tear on his shirt with bloodstains on it. she freezes her expression and mentally hardens herself as she braces the pain and sits up as normally as she could, "what happened to you?"

"he randomly pulled a knife on me without warning and i jumped back too late," levi shrugs nonchalantly, as if he was talking about what he ordered for dinner.

mikasa crosses one leg on the bed and lets the other hang off the side, facing levi who sits down and mirrors her posture. he sets the plastic in between them and mikasa roots through it, pulling out the bandage rolls and antiseptic cream and tetracycline ointment. she sighs as levi presents his arm to her, "if you scream or do anything like that, i will hurt you."

"oh i won't make any noises but i've got an unfortunate history of violent reflexes so i wouldn't try anything if i were you."

"hey. you're the one in pain here." levi raises an eyebrow as if to question that sentence but keeps quiet as mikasa starts to dab the cream around the cuts. levi's muscles periodically flinch even though there aren't any large reactions from the male, and mikasa concentrates on trying not to crumble under her own pain. she had seen a new box of painkillers during her look through the bag and her brain was now coming up with an excuse to use it.

"there," mikasa huffs and leans back slightly, "all done."

"thanks, i'll go wrap it and take a shower." levi leaves the room, closing the door slightly and leaving just a crack.

mikasa watches him go, then proceeds to eye the bag on her lap.

she picks up the ointment and lifts her shirt biting it between her teeth, just as she was going to apply the ointment on herself, a voice comes from the doorway.

"that looks like it needs professional medical help."

mikasa gasps at the sudden presence she had failed to detect, her shirt falling from her lips as she whips her head up to confront the male. she glowers at him as levi makes his way over to her, realising that he had tricked her into lowering her guard.

"can i see?" levi sits in front of her, resuming his position just a minute ago.

"haven't you already seen?" she sarcastically quips back. levi gives her a deadpan look that said 'stop your bullshit' and she sighs, shaking her head a little, "its not that serious."

mikasa lifts her shirt and levi runs a hand gingerly across the dark bruise, he frowns as he notices the slight indent at the ribs.

"does it hurt when you take a breath?"

"yeah, kinda," mikasa stiffens as he rests his palm gently on her side.

"its probably dislocated,"

"what? no, its just a little beat up."

levi stares at the girl as she starts to spout excuses to avoid going to the hospital or seeing a real doctor, knowing her stubborn nature, he thought convincing her will be a long and arduous task.

"okay, relax, take a deep breath."

mikasa's eyes widened slightly, "i can't, it hurts."

"i know, but you have to so that it will go back in place."

mikasa takes a rather normal breath, but immediately stops as her face contorts due to the unforgiving pain that stabs her side.

"breathe all the way, don't stop until you feel like you're going to pass out."

mikasa whimpers a little bit and braces herself by clenching her fist and bundling the sheets in her hands, she inhales deeply the pain growing at her side until her vision began to blur with tears in her eyes. she could feel levi gripping her by the shoulders and encouraging her to continue inhaling, mikasa had to consciously tell herself not to punch the male across the face. _could he not tell she was trying?_ mikasa could hear blood roaring in her ears and her head spins from the torture she was going through, white hot pain engulfs her and she stifles a groan. suddenly the pain becomes sharp and she really thought she was going to pass out for real, she breathes heavily as the agony subsides slowly.

levi places a hand gently on her bruise and sighs, "its okay now." mikasa runs her own hand down her side and finds that the dent has indeed disappeared.

she narrows her eyes at levi, "how did you know to do that?"

"just something i picked up," he shrugs casually.

"right..."

"next time something like this happens, do not hesitate to tell me," levi lectures the other.

mikasa rolls her eyes, "yes dad,"

levi glares in response.

"by the way, where did you go?"

"to the club, i figured you're pretty desperate about getting money for some reason, so i wanted to help."

"you don't have to, this is my problem to solve."

"i would prefer to not be responsible for your death thanks."

"i won't die from a few punches," mikasa huffs, "and i'll have you know that i'm actually losing on purpose sometimes."

"didn't feel like you lost on purpose to me," levi smirks.

"that's—" mikasa looks away stiffly, "i was just tired."

"mhmn, keep telling yourself that."

in a flash, mikasa has levi's collar in one hand and pushing against his shoulder in another.

levi fell back against the bed with mikasa's knee between his legs, there was no change in his facial expression, however his heart began to thump loudly. mikasa blinks twice, "don't test me," she says brusquely.

just as she begins to push herself off of levi, his arms snakes around her waist and pulls her down against his chest.

mikasa could feel her cheeks burning up as the side of her face was pressing against levi's chest. she could hear the quick heartbeat that contradicts the slow rising of his chest, eren's words flashes in her mind.

_the heart never lies when it comes to your emotions._

it was just some stupid quote from some random movie that eren couldn't stop preaching about, but here she is, wondering if it was real.

mikasa deliberates if levi could feel her own heart thumping, she can't see his face so she has no idea what kind of expression he was wearing but knowing levi, it would probably be the same indifferent look he wears all the time.

"what are you doing?" she asks softly.

"sorry, uhm," levi falters. mikasa begins to lift herself off, but one of levi's hand shoots up to her head and pins it back down, "wait, uhm, lets just stay like this for a bit..."

"why?"

"its...nice," levi says awkwardly, "kind of, i mean, you're a little heavy though."

"what the fuck—"

levi begins to chuckle as mikasa roughly pushes off him, "you absolute asshole!"

"sorry," levi tries to stifle his laugh, "it was just too good an opportunity to pass up."

mikasa stomps out of the bedroom as levi laughs softly, resting back on his elbows and watching her leave.

_she's cute when she's—wait what?_

the smile disappears from his lips faster than lightning as he catches the thought that just crossed his mind.

the heat that he barely manages to rid from his face creeps back on. he feels crazy for even thinking of such a thing as he shakes his head in disbelief, trying to clear up his mind.

"i need a nap," he mumbles to himself as he collapses back onto the bed, his legs still hanging off the side. levi closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, he could still feel mikasa lying on him, the scent lingering slightly, and in this rare moment, he drifts off to sleep.

-


End file.
